International travel destinations inspired by the Negritude Movement
Ready to set the world on fire, young students Aime Cesaire, 22, and Leon Damas, 23, teamed up with 29-year-old Léopold Sédar Senghor in 1935 to publish the literary L’Étudiant noir (The Black Student). It was a publication that would launch the Negritude movement, an intellectual movement that focused on reclaiming Black pride throughout the diaspora and exposing the deep societal ills of colonialism. Participants in this movement were heavily inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, and the two groups occasionally got to interface with each other. Much of this cross-pollination, and the development of the movement overall, can be attributed to two black women, Jane and Paulette Nardal, whose cafe served as a meeting place for Black intellectuals in Paris and was frequented by the likes of Langston Hughes and Marcus Garvey. Those hoping to revisit the movement will find the opportunity in these destinations.
Martinique
Aimé Césaire, in his poetry, prose and plays, used his pen to delve deeply into the corrupt and convoluted state of society under colonial rule. His work was recognized and celebrated by his contemporaries, ushering him into the realm of politics. Cesaire represented Martinique in the French National Assembly for nearly 50 years as a member of the French Communist Party. Visitors to the island of Martinique can visit his former office at the Aimé Césaire Museum where his desk, books, chair and knick-knacks sit richly preserved alongside the poet’s Afrocentric art collection.
Dakar, Senegal
An honest account of Senghor’s legacy must not sugarcoat the truth of his authoritarian reign as president, during which political dissidents were routinely intimidated, tortured, and killed. Still, his place in history as an influential intellectual that helped spur the movement towards decolonization in Africa means that his legacy must be acknowledged rather than brushed aside. It is important to see how leaders oriented towards liberation can fail to meet that benchmark once they attain power when the same harmful structures committed to perpetuating inequality are the ones recreated after revolution. Those wishing to contend with the fullness of Senghor’s legacy will find his home preserved at the Musee Leopold Sedar Senghor, where private tours give visitors a picture of the late Senegalese president’s private life.
Champagney, France
Historians discovered a document by working class French laborers expressing their sympathy with enslaved Black people and demanding abolition slavery. The document, which was delivered to king Louis XVI by an attendant on behalf of the people from his hometown, was regarded so highly that a museum is now dedicated to its preservation.
The document says, “The inhabitants and community of Champagney cannot think of the ills being suffered by Negroes in the colonies without feeling a stabbing pain in their hearts, at the thought of those like them and still closely joined to them through Religion, being treated even harder than beasts of burden. They are unable to comprehend that goods from the said colonies can be used, bearing in mind that they have been washed with the blood of those like them: They rightly fear that future generations, more enlightened and more philosophical, will accuse the French of this century of cannibalism, which goes against what it means to be French and, even more, Christian. That is why their religion requires that they appeal very humbly to His Majesty to use the means necessary to make these slaves become useful subjects of both King and Country.”
After the document’s discovery, Senghor suggested the name Maison de la Négritude et des Droits de l’Homme (The House of Negritude and Human Rights), and an institution was erected documenting and opposing all forms of slavery from antiquity to modernity.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 9:00 AM.