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History
of a Man

Aimé Césaire

musee aime cezaire

A Man from
MARTINIQUE

The foundations of a man and a way of thinking

Aimé Césaire was born in Basse-Pointe in 1913. A good student, he won a scholarship to the Lycée Schoelcher in Fort-de-France, where he had a fine education before leaving Martinique in 1931 for Paris and a hypokhâgne class at the prestigious Lycée Louis Le Grand. It was here that he met Léopold Sédar Senghor, with whom he forged a close friendship.

Together with other West Indian and African students, Léon Gontran Damas and Birago Diop, they founded the magazine "l'Etudiant Noir" in 1934.
It was in this magazine that Senghor first wrote his first poems. It was in this magazine that the term "Négritude" first appeared. This concept, built against the French colonial project, aims to reject the French project of cultural assimilation and the devaluation of Africa and its culture. 
 
Studying at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1935, he began writing "Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal" in 1936.

This is the first book in a series of essays on the French colonial project.

After graduating from the ENS, Aimé Césaire returned to Martinique in 1939, where he became a teacher at the Lycée Schoelcher and published the magazine "Tropiques"

tropique musee aime cezaire

An engaged man

Policy and commitments

Mayor of Fort-de-France between 1945 and 2001, Aimé Césaire was also a member of parliament between 1946 and 1993.

In 1946, he played a major role as rapporteur for the departmentalization law making Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Reunion French departments. 

Politically involved with the Communist Party for 22 years, Aimé Césaire left it in 1956 to found the Martinique Progressive Party in 1958. Through this party, he would demand Martinique's independence and commit himself to its modernization and the enhancement of its culture.

Aimé Césaire was also a member of the Martinique Progressive Party.

Successively deputy, general councillor and president of the regional council, he will have definitively left his mark on Martinique's political life.

Aimé Césaire

passionate man

Poetry, essays and theater

Parallel to his political life, Aimé Césaire continued his literary work, publishing several collections of poetry. His main works include:

  • Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939, poetic work)
  • Soleil Cou Coupé (1948, poetic work)
  • Discourse on colonialism (1950, anti-colonialist essay)
  • Et les chiens se taisent (1956, play)
  • Cadastre (1961, collection of poems)
  • La tragédie du Roi Christophe (1963, play)
  • Une saison au Congo (1966, play)
  • Une tempête (1969, play)
  • Moi, laminaire (1982, collection of poems)

Poet, essayist but also playwright, he has considerably influenced French West Indian and African literature and continues to leave his mark on generations.

He died in Fort-de-France on April 17, 2008. A plaque honors him at the Pantheon since 2011.

 

musee aime cezaire

Martinique with a big
M.