“Image Ownership: Hegor” Harlem Désir is currently a socialist politician and Foreign Affairs Under-Secretary for Europe in the government of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. His career began in the 1980s when he was a leftist student who protested racism and the leader of “Touche … Read MoreHarlem Désir (1959- )
Raphaël Élizé was an early 20th century French politician and the first black mayor of a metropolitan town in France: Sablé-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe). He was born in 1891 in Martinique into a racially mixed family: Augustin, his father, a tax collector and active Freemason, and his … Read MoreRaphaël Élizé (1891-1945)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Born in Cayenne, French Guiana to parents Marc Saint-Yves Monnerville and Marie-Françoise Orville, Gaston Monnerville was the grandson of a slave. His family was from Case-Pilote in Martinique, but moved to French Guiana where two sons were born: Pierre and Gaston. … Read MoreGaston Monnerville (1897–1991)
Poet, editor, diplomat, and cultural theorist Léon Damas was born on March 28, 1912, in Cayenne, French Guiana. He was the youngest of five children born to parents Ernest and Marie Aline Damas. After his mother’s death in 1913, young Léon and his siblings were … Read MoreLéon-Gontran Damas (1912-1978)
Roger Sauvage was one the few pilots of African descent to fly in both the French and Russian Air Forces in World War II. Sauvage was born in Paris on March 26, 1917, the son of a white Frenchwoman, Marie Sauvage, and a black soldier … Read MoreRoger Sauvage (1917-1977)
Francis Johnson, musician, composer, and bandmaster, was born in 1792 in Martinique in the West Indies and emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1809 at the age of 17. By that point he had already mastered the keyed bugle and the violin. By his early 20s … Read MoreFrancis Johnson (1792-1844)
Born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, Wilfredo Lam personally exemplified the complex multiethnic nature of Latin America: his father was Chinese while his mother boasted a combined African, Indian, and European cultural background. Utilizing some of this background, Lam, through art, would explore various African … Read MoreWilfredo Lam (1902-1982)
Adolphe-Félix-Sylvestre Eboué, French Colonial Administrator, was the grandson of slaves but was born a free man on December 26, 1884, at Cayenne, French Guiana, a French colony whose residents had full French citizenship. Félix Eboué was the youngest son of the five children of Yves … Read MoreAdolphe-Félix-Sylvestre Eboué (1884-1944)
The Ligue Universelle pour la Défense de la Race Noire (LUDRN) was a Pan-African association created on April 30, 1924, by Kojo Tovalou Houénou, known as Tovalou, descendant of the last king of Dahomey (now Benin). The headquarters of the association was located in Paris … Read MoreLigue Universelle pour la Défense de la Race Noire (1924)
The literary movement, Negritude, was born out of the Paris intellectual environment of 1930s and 1940s. It is a product of black writers joining together through the French language to assert their cultural identity. Aimé Césaire was the first to coin the word in his … Read MoreNegritude Movement
