Négritude (from French "nègre" and "-itude," meaning a condition related to "Blackness") is a way of thinking and writing that focuses on the experiences and identity of Black people. It was developed by French-speaking intellectuals, writers, politicians, and artists from the African diaspora, especially during the 1930s. These individuals aimed to raise awareness and encourage a sense of pride in Black identity across Africa and the global Black community. Key figures who helped shape Négritude included Aimé Césaire, a poet from Martinique; Abdoulaye Sadji; Léopold Sédar Senghor, who later became the first President of Senegal; and Léon Damas, an artist from French Guiana. Négritude thinkers rejected colonialism, racism, and the belief that European culture is superior to others. They supported African traditions while maintaining connections to France. These intellectuals used ideas from Marxist philosophy, which focuses on social and economic equality, and often wrote in a style influenced by Surrealism, a type of art and literature that explores dreams and imagination. Their work frequently addressed themes like identity, belonging, and the experience of living away from one's homeland. Visual artists inspired by Négritude also created art that explored these same themes.
Négritude influenced the creation of many movements worldwide, such as Afro-Surrealism, Créolité, and Antillanité in the Caribbean, and the "Black is Beautiful" movement in the United States. The writer Frantz Fanon often discussed Négritude in his books.
Etymology
Négritude is a made-up word from the 1930s based on the French word nègre, which was used in a negative way and meant something different from "black man." The movement used the word Négritude to take control and show strength. The term was first used in this way by Aimé Césaire in the third issue (May–June 1935) of L'Étudiant noir, a magazine he started in Paris with other students, including Léopold Senghor, Léon Damas, and others. The word appeared in Césaire’s first published work, "Conscience Raciale et Révolution Sociale," under the heading "Les Idées" and the section "Négreries." This work rejected assimilation as a way to resist unfair treatment and used the word nègre as a positive term. Assimilation was a problem because it meant joining a culture that saw African culture as uncivilized. Joining this culture would have meant agreeing with that view. The word nègre had mostly been used in a negative way before. Césaire intentionally used this word in his philosophy’s name. The ending -itude in Négritude has been criticized, as Senghor noted that the term was often questioned as a word before being questioned as an idea. However, this ending allowed Césaire to use the language of racist science in a new way.
Influences
In 1885, Haitian scholar Anténor Firmin wrote a book called On the Equality of Human Races. This book was a response to a French writer, Count Arthur de Gobineau, who had written An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races. Firmin influenced Jean Price-Mars, who started the study of Haitian culture and created the idea of Indigenism. He also influenced Melville Herskovits, an American anthropologist in the 20th century. Black thinkers have always been proud of Haiti because of its slave revolution led by Toussaint Louverture in the 1790s. Césaire said that Haiti was "where négritude stood up for the first time."
The Harlem Renaissance was a
Négritude Literary Movement
The Négritude movement was started by several people who had different ideas about its purpose and style. However, the movement generally opposed colonialism, criticized Europe's treatment of people, and rejected Western control and beliefs. It also had some ideas similar to those of a German philosopher named Heidegger, as it aimed to help Black people feel a strong sense of belonging in the world. The movement emphasized that Black people had a rich history and culture that could be equal to other cultures. It also encouraged pride in being Black and celebrated African traditions, history, and beliefs. The writers involved in the movement used a creative, unusual style and supported ideas from a thinker named Marx.
The movement began because Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor, and Léon Damas were unhappy with how Black people from French-speaking countries were treated in France. All three felt angry about the racism and unfair treatment they and others faced. Senghor believed that his education was not meant to replace his African heritage with European ideas. Césaire was upset when some people in the Caribbean said he had no connection to Africa, calling Africans "savages." He criticized Caribbean writers for pretending to be more like Europeans. Damas agreed with this because he saw how some writers took pride in being accepted by white people.
Césaire was a poet, playwright, and politician from Martinique. He studied in Paris, where he learned about the Black community and rediscovered his connection to Africa. He believed Négritude was about accepting being Black and valuing Black history and culture. He thought this acceptance could help Black people overcome the feeling of being less important, which he believed was caused by Western imperialism. He focused on the shared experiences of Black people, such as the slave trade and forced labor. His ideas were especially important in the early years of the movement.
Césaire and Senghor did not want their countries to become independent from France. Instead, Césaire pushed for Martinique to be treated as part of France while keeping its unique culture. Senghor believed Négritude would allow Black people in French-speaking countries to be treated as equals in France. However, France later gave independence to Senegal and other African colonies. Senghor, who later became the first president of Senegal, used Négritude to promote respect for African traditions and ideas. His version of Négritude became the most common one over time.
Damas was a poet and member of the French National Assembly from French Guiana. He strongly defended Black identity and refused to accept any form of agreement with white people. Two important books helped spread the movement: one written by Damas in 1946 and another by Senghor in 1948. Damas’s book was meant to explain the movement’s goals, but Senghor’s book became more widely known. A French writer named Jean-Paul Sartre wrote an introduction for Senghor’s book, which helped the movement gain more attention.
Damas’s book focused more on politics and culture. His collection included poems from people in places like Indochina and Madagascar, unlike Senghor’s book. In his introduction, Damas said that now was the time for colonized people to recognize their rights and responsibilities as writers and artists. He described the themes of his book as including poverty, unfair treatment, forced labor, and the lies and inequalities faced by Black and other colonized people. His introduction encouraged people to take pride in their own cultures.
Négritude Art Movement
The Négritude art movement began in Paris. Artists involved in Négritude used the skills they learned in Western art schools and combined them with the ideas of the Négritude philosophy in their artwork. The Dakar School art movement in Senegal, which was active from 1960 to 1974, was influenced by the Négritude philosophy. It was also started during the leadership of Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor. The School of Fine Arts was established to help define and shape the visual style of the Négritude movement. The Négritude art movement aimed to share African culture and ideas with the Western world and to challenge unfair opinions about African art.
Reception
In 1948, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote an essay titled "Orphée Noir" ("Black Orpheus"), which was the introduction to a book of poetry called Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache. This poetry collection was compiled by Léopold Senghor. In his essay, Sartre described Négritude as the opposite of colonial racism, using a way of thinking called a Hegelian dialectic. Through this work, he helped French intellectuals learn about Négritude. Sartre believed that Négritude was a type of "anti-racist racism" (racisme antiraciste), a method aimed at achieving racial unity.
Some Black writers in the 1960s criticized Négritude for not being strong enough. Keorapetse Kgositsile argued that the term Négritude focused too much on Blackness as seen through European ideas and failed to create a new way of understanding African identity that would free Black people and their art from European ideas.
The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and poet Wole Soyinka disagreed with Négritude. They believed that being proud of their ethnicity made Black people seem defensive. Wole Soyinka wrote: "A tiger does not announce its tigerness; it jumps on its prey." In a 1960 essay for The Horn, Soyinka added: "The duiker will not paint 'duiker' on its back to show its identity; you will know it by its graceful leap."
After many years of little discussion, Négritude has been revived by scholars such as Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Columbia University), Donna Jones (University of California, Berkeley), and Cheikh Thiam (Ohio State University). These scholars continue the work of Abiola Irele (1936–2017). Cheikh Thiam’s book is the only full-length study of Négritude as a philosophy. It builds on Diagne’s view of Négritude as a philosophy of art and Jones’ idea of Négritude as a way of thinking about life.
Additional Information
American doctor Benjamin Rush, who signed the United States Declaration of Independence and worked to end slavery, is sometimes said to have used the word "Negritude" to describe a symbolic "disease" he compared to a mild form of leprosy. He believed the only way to cure this condition was to become white. However, this claim has been questioned by others, who argue it may be based on incorrect information from other sources. If Rush did use the term, it is unlikely that people in Africa who later developed the philosophy of Négritude in the 20th century were aware of it. Still, Léopold Sédar Senghor said he and Aimé Césaire knew about discussions about race and revolution in the United States.
Novelist Norman Mailer used the term "Negritude" in his book The Fight to describe the powerful physical and mental presence of boxer George Foreman during the famous 1974 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
The term "Négritude" or "negritude" can also refer to the way people with physical traits often linked to African heritage were treated during the Atlantic slave trade. It describes how these traits became tied to social status, language, and identity.
The word is also used by rapper Youssoupha in his album titled Négritude.