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1794, Feb 4

1794, Feb 4: On this historic date, the French National Convention passed the landmark decree officially abolishing slavery in all French colonies.

Haitian

1794, Feb 4: On this historic date, the French National Convention passed the landmark decree officially abolishing slavery in all French colonies. Following the announcement, which was met with thunderous applause and cries of “Vive la République!”, a woman of color named Jeanne Odo: (also identified in some records as Marie-Pierre Yvon or simply a “citoyenne de couleur”) collapsed in the public gallery, overwhelmed with joy. Reported to be 114 years old and a formerly enslaved resident of Saint-Domingue, Odo’s presence was a living testament to the generations who had endured the system now being dismantled. Upon her revival, the President of the Convention, Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier, ordered that she be escorted from the gallery to the floor of the assembly. In a profound symbolic gesture, she was given a seat of honor directly beside the President on the rostrum. There, she was formally embraced by the deputies—including the abolitionist Abbé Grégoire—as the assembly celebrated the brief realization of universal “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.” (Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, Premiere Série (1787-1799), Tome LXXXIV (84), Séance du 16 pluviôse an II (4 février 1794), p. 283.)