Overview

• The documentary traces the genealogies of six well-known figures, uncovering their ancestral connections to slavery in French colonies.
• JoeyStarr learns of his descent from Lumina Sophie, an enslaved rebel who led a women’s revolt in Martinique in 1870.
• The film highlights the abolition of slavery in 1848, which compensated slave owners with 126 million gold francs, while former slaves received no reparations.
• France enslaved 4 million people and deported 1.2 million Africans between the 17th and 19th centuries, a history often overlooked in national discourse.
• Now available on france.tv, the documentary coincides with France’s Memory Day, prompting broader public engagement with the nation’s slave-trading legacy.