About
Aimé Césaire, born in 1913 in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, was a major figure in French literature and politics. Co-founder of the Négritude movement with Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon Damas, he published the foundational Notebook of a Return to the Native Land in 1939. Elected mayor of Fort-de-France and deputy in 1945, he was rapporteur for the 1946 departmentalization law. He broke with the French Communist Party in 1956 and founded the Martinican Progressive Party in 1958. His work includes essays such as Discourse on Colonialism and plays. He died in 2008 and received a national homage at the Panthéon in 2011.
* 1913-06-26 — † 2008-04-17
Major works
- Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939)prose poem
- Discours sur le colonialisme (1950)essay
- La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963)play
- Une Saison au Congo (1966)play
- Une tempête (1969)play
Key milestones
- 1934Co-founded the review L'Étudiant noir with Senghor and Damas, where the term 'Négritude' first appeared.
- 1945Elected mayor of Fort-de-France and deputy to the French National Assembly.
- 1958Founded the Martinican Progressive Party.
Themes
Négritudecolonialismidentityfreedompolitical commitment
Sources: assemblee-nationale.fr · culture.gouv.fr