The Meaning of Negritude

Meanings of Negritude: Through the Eyes of the Founders

The Negritude movement, first coined and conceived in Paris in the 1930’s took its shape out of the mold of French Black angst, and the Black Man’s desire to not only be, but also to  make himself known. Carried on the backs of Leopold Senghor, Aime Cesaire, and Leon Damas, the movement took root in one common sentiment. Each of the three founding writers felt strongly about Negritude; the subject had similar meanings to each of them. However, upon closer examination, readers and students of the movement will find slight differences in the founder’s interpretations of the word Negritude. Leopold Senghor felt the spirit of Negritude rested in the “spirit of Negro African Civilization,” (DoHarris 1); Aime Cesaire on the other hand believed that Negritude in essence was the “[simple] awareness of being black… [and] taking charge of one’s destiny as a Black Man, [taking charge] of one’s history and culture,” (DoHarris 1). Leon Damas maintained similar to Cesaire that Negritude meant throwing out the invitation to assimilate and exchanging it for Black culture and ethnicity.

Leopold Senghor, a man of African descent from Senegal shared the experience of his dark skinned brothers in every way except that he had not suffered lack as they had. This however did not permit him from participating in the struggle to shape Negritude. His poems express his sentiments about Negritude. It is clear from “Negro Mask,” that Senghor charges himself with preserving, chronicling and presenting Black beauty. His desire to preserve the cultural beauty ties in intricately with his art. In his opening stanza, Senghor draws on the natural beauty of his homeland to attribute ascetical value to a woman of color. “She sleeps and rests on the candor of the sand, // Koumba Tam sleeps. A green palm veils the fever of her hair, bronzes her brow, curves// The closed eyelids, a double cup with wellsprings sealed,” (Senghor 132). From the references to the green palm, the bronze, the sand, Senghor shows his commitment to his culture. Later in the poem, Senghor mentions God, ascribing an element of affirmation and acceptance to his subject;

“Mask face, closed to the ephemeral, eyeless, without substance…//that neither paint nor redress nor wrinkles nor the trace of tears or kisses stain.

O face as God made you even before the memory of the ages… (Senghor 132).

Senghor stays true to his firm belief in the preservation of culture and consequently his beliefs about Negritude.

Senghor’s friend and fellow poet Leon Damas, a native of French Guyana felt the full weight of the pressure to quietly assimilate. His father, partly European, and his mother, of Amerindian and African decent, insisted that Damas attend the University of Paris for a law degree. Damas, eager to express his Black culture and define himself as a Black man began to pursue other studies that led him to Negritude. His angst is evident in the poem “So Often.”

“So often my feeling of race//strikes the same fear//as the nighttime howling of a dog//at some approaching death//I always feel//about to foam with rage//against what surrounds me//against what prevents me//ever//from being//a man,” (Damas 54-55). The poet’s lines give life to his inward struggle to cast off assimilation. It is the threat “rage,” and not complacency that drives him to pen these poems, to preserve his culture. These lines make it evident that Damas wants nothing to do with Eurocentric culture. In the ending lines, Damas makes his point even clearer. “And nothing//nothing would so calm my hate//as a great//pool//of blood//made//by those long sharp knives//that strip the hills of cane//for rum,” (Damas 55). The silent vivid violence of these lines is unmistakable, and unavoidable.  Damas, much like Cesaire, seems unopposed to forcefully resisting assimilation, domination, and colonization of the French. His ending lines echo very near to a call to arms, an invitation to revolt. His childhood friend Cesaire gives voice to similar topics in his poems.

Aime Cesaire met Damas in school when the two were young. Their meeting began a long and lasting friendship that would open to include Senghor. Cesaire’s “First Problem,” expresses his particular beliefs about the meaning of Negritude. It is clear from the poem that to Cesaire, Negritude is resilience, endurance, and resistance.

When they grab my leg//I hurl back a jungle of lianas//let them lynch me//I vanish into a row of figs//The weakness of most men//They don’t know how to become a stone or tree//Sometimes I stick tender between my fingers//for the sole pleasure of breaking out// fresh poinsettia all night long//reds, greens flaming in the wind//like our dawn in my throat. (Cesaire 80-81).

Expertly using image and color to carry his message, Cesaire breathes the essence of Negritude into his poem. The reader can grasp that the simple act of “being” black is Negritude from the line, “They don’t know how to become a stone or tree,” both of which are (usually) permanent and natural entities. The references to the colors red and green, both patriotic colors of Cesaire’s homeland, suggest the idea of independence and thereby, ethic and national pride. Overall, this poem reveals Cesaire’s definition of Negritude through its potent images and symbols.

In conclusion, “Negro Mask,” “First Problem,” and “So Often,” represent the poet’s definition of Negritude through their powerful images and meaningful symbols. Senghor’s “Black Mask” preserves the integrity of Negritude by praising the beauty of Black skin; Damas’ “So Often” lends voice to the raw frustration often featured in Negritude poetry; and Cesaire encourages readers to become as resilient as the nature around them. Each founding poet saw Negritude cast in different lights, and though their styles differ their poems embody the same propelling spirit: the multifaceted spirit of Blackness.

Works Cited

DoHarris Brenda. “Negritude.”

Kennedy,Ellen C. and Maya Angelou. The Negritude Poets: An Anthology of Translations from the French. Thunder’s Mouth Press. 1989.