Recently, it was announced that there has been some more movement towards construction a memorial in the memory of the enslaved individuals who were freed from French slavery in 1848. This is very exciting because two of my ancestors are amongst those who were liberated. Let’s see what was announced and what we should expect!
A Memorial for those Forgetten
As a member of CM98, I receive news and updates regarding things tied to genealogy in the French Caribbean. Since I have ancestors from Martinique and Guadeloupe, I wanted to stay in touch with this side of my ancestry to continue learning as new updates come up about regarding documents, archives, and even social movements.
When I lived in France back in 2022-2023, I was able to head to Paris for the day in May 2023 and attend a genealogical event hosted by the CM98. It was here that I learned about the memorial that was to be erected in Paris in honor of the slaves from the French empire. Back then it was supposed to be completed in by 2025; however, here we are two years later without a memorial. So I was excited when I got word that there had been some movement regarding the memorial itself.
News & Updates
Feel free to click above to access the French article regarding the garden they plan to build! Basically, on 4 September 2025 a meeting was held where Manuel Valls, Minister of State for the Overseas Territories, was able to present the selected architectural work that would ultimately become a 4,000 meters squared garden within the Trocadéro gardens.
What was nice to see was that the names were to still be engraved, including 315,000 names and surnames of slaves freed in 1848. Amongst those slaves were my 5th great-grandmother, Eglantine Lautin, and my 4th great-grandmother Julienne Malvina Lautin. It was important that the names be included of the enslaved people as it gives importance to each single person that endured and persevered under the yoke of slavery.
A book was presented to Manuel Valls with all of the names that are to be included in the memorial. Currently, the plan is for the park to be built in 2027. Fingers crossed the date does not move again!
What will the garden look like?
Though it seems that the final design was chosen, I can’t seem to find too many images of the garden itself. On the CM98 website, I was able to find some rendered images of what the garden will look like.
In the last photo you can see people standing in front of what appear to be plaques. I assume that this is how the names will be displayed. I am excited to see if more images will be released soon of what the garden will fully look like and similarly I am excited to read about when they first break ground.
I won’t be too surprised if the garden gets delayed again, as these things tends to happen. So I won’t really hold my breathe and I definitely won’t be buying any tickets to France…yet!
The Future
I am definitely hopeful that this garden will get completed sometime in the near future and I would love to go in person and visit. Especially if I can make it for the first opening weekend for the garden. I think it would be amazing experience to stand in front of the names of my ancestors and allow me to honor them once again.
Until then, I hope to continue to learn as much as I can about my 4th great-grandparents and my 5th great-grandmother who all were enslaved in Martinique and Guadeloupe. If it wasn’t for their strength… I would not be here today.
