Contents
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Serving as Senegal’s first president and helping develop Négritude.
Chants d’ombre · Hosties noires
- Born
- 9 October 1906
- Birthplace
- Joal, Senegal
- Died
- 20 December 2001
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Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet and politician whose presidency combined cultural ambition with restrictive one-party rule.
Early life
Coastal childhood
Grew up in a Serer family in Joal.
French education
Studied in Dakar and Paris before qualifying as a teacher.
Career
- 1935
Teaching qualification
Passed the French agrégation in grammar.
- 1945
Parliament
Was elected to France’s National Assembly.
- 1960–1980
Presidency
Led independent Senegal before retiring.
Selected work
Chants d’ombre
Published his first poetry collection.
Hosties noires
Wrote about war and African soldiers.
Liberté I
Collected writing on Négritude and humanism.
Beyond work
War captivity
Was held as a prisoner of war during the Second World War.
Academy
Became the first African elected to the Académie française in 1983.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and career ↗Further source ↗Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
Photo: Dominique Roger. CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.