...1801, following the successful rebellion that he'd led, former slave Toussaint Louverture (right) signed the Constitution of Haiti, which abolished slavery forever, declaring, "All men are born, live and die free and French." Further establishing Roman Catholicism as "the only publicly professed faith," it guaranteed protection of marriage and and forbade divorce.... 1987 (20 years ago today), at a national court in Lyon, France, a panel comprising 3 judges and 9 jurors found Klaus Barbie guilty of crimes against humanity. Chief of the Gestapo in Lyon during World War II, Barbie was convicted for his role in the roundup and transport to concentration camps of hundreds of French persons of Jewish ancestry. He received a life sentence and in 1991 died in a Lyon prison at age 77.
