Cover image: Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
Philippe Grangeaud - photographer
CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

In compliance with the Law of May 21, 2001 (aka La Loi Taubira), which declares slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity and decrees that France's involvement in slavery and the trade be taught in school, France's National Council for the Memory and History of Slavery (CNMHE) created the Flamme de l'égalité  (Flame of Equality) competition in 2015.

This initiative is led by France's League of Education and supported by the Ministries of National Education, Interior and Overseas Departments, and Agriculture and Food Sovereignty as well as DILCRAH (Délégué interministériel à la lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et la haine anti-LGBT*) and FME (Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage**).

The competition invites students (aged 9-17) and teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout France and its overseas departments to reflect on and develop projects that demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history of slave trade and capture, the life of enslaved people and their struggles for abolition, their contemporary legacies, and more. 

Participants are encouraged to engage external consultants to assist with these projects. (African-American Cheryl Ann Bolden, proprietor of the Precious Cargo Museum, is on the list of visual and plastic arts consultants.)

The competition invites students to write essays, assemble dossiers, or create video documentaries or interdisciplinary works that can include literary, graphic, theatrical, cinematographic, choreographic, musical, or other artistic components. A project can bring together a few students, an entire class, or several classes at an individual school.

Four pupils and a teacher from the educational team of each national winning group are invited to the national award ceremony organized on May 10, the National Day of Commemoration of the Slave Trade, Slavery and Their Abolition.*** Prizes are awarded in the presence of one or more representatives of the national government.

Classes that do not win an award receive a letter from the competition jury to thank them for their participation.

The winners of the 7th competition were recently announced by Minister of National Education and Youth, Pap N'diayé (see video below, in French). 

This competition brought together more than 5,135 students enrolled in 178 establishments in mainland France and overseas, as well as in establishments of the AEFE network (Agency for French Education Abroad).

The theme for this competition was "Working in Slavery." The 302 projects submitted were evaluated locally in April 2022, and the works selected were valued by regional academic juries in May and June 2022. Between September and November, the national jury evaluated the work selected by the academic juries in order to create the national prize list. On November 6, 2022, the members of the national jury met in Paris to make their final deliberations and assign the prizes to be delivered on May 10, 2023.

Students and educators from winning schools are invited to attend this year's National Day of Commemoration ceremony to be held at the Luxembourg Garden in Paris.

The Luxembourg Garden ceremony is held in the space adjacent to the sculpture entitled Le Cri, L'écrit by Fabrice Hyber, which was inaugurated on May 10, 2007 (the second National Day of Commemoration) as a permanent reminder of the slave trade, slavery, and their abolition. This space is dedicated to France's formerly enslaved peoples.

Monique Y. Wells and Fabrice Hyber, creator of Le Cri, L'Ecrit
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first ceremony that honored winners of the La Flamme de l'égalité competition was held in 2015.

Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
#POINTGOUV avec Christiane Taubira
March 14, 2013
Philippe Grangeaud - photographer
CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

*Interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred

**Foundation for the Memory of Slavery

***At the behest of the Comité pour la Memoire de l'Esclavage (Committee for the Memory of Slavery), May 10 was designated as the National Day of Commemoration of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and their Abolition in 2006. This date now punctuates a series of annual national and overseas commemorations that run from April 27 to June 10.