Throughout European history, racism against Africans was present. Sometimes this racism took on different forms, but the fact remains that it was still at hand. The early twentieth century was no different. During this era in Europe, some black people were treated a bit different. These Africans, known as Francophone Africans, were intellectual and experienced colonial assimilation. “These displaced intellectuals and activists often became disconnected from the living cultures, everyday struggles, and ordinary people in whose name they acted”’ (Wilder, 150).
Aime Cesaire, Leopold Sedar Senghor, and Leon-Gontran Damas were among the African intellectuals that made a name for themselves and for their Africa heritage. Although their childhoods were filled with racism and alienation, they were later considered racially elite in their specific colonies. French education was an important component in their early lives, and continued on to college educations. Senghor believed that, “The best way to prove the value of black culture was to steal the colonizers’ own weapons and be an even better student” (Wilder, 151). Bettering themselves was their way of getting even with the years and years of torment they have had to endure. Damas befriended many white artists and Antillean students who were interested in his origin and culture. In fact, several African-based courses were offered at Universities.
These African intellectuals did alter Western civilization in more ways than one. “The Great War brought thousands of Africans to France as conscripts, and some stayed there” (Miller, 10). According to Miller, 134,000 Africans fought while 30,000 were killed. Miller continues on to tell us another effect of the massive participation of Africans in the war, “la dette de sang, the moral debt that France owed Africans who had lent and sacrificed their lives” (Miller18). Blacks were still seen as a lesser race, and saw European civilization for them as nothing more than a joke. Even still, Miller tells us that 1932 was a crucial year where certain blacks took on “a new type of cultural identity” (Miller, 11).
Black intellectuals attempted to define themselves as Africans through their education, writings, speeches, and teachings. These blacks embraced, rejected, and altered the very Western civilization that was both offered and pushed upon them
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I think your essay gives an interesting portrayal of the Africans’ opinion on European culture. Your essay states that the Africans getting an education in Europe was a way of rebelling against all of the discrimination they had faced and still did face. My interpretation of this was that they we embracing the educational values of European culture. After reading your essay I can know see the point you are making is that the Africans were able to escape all the horrible things done to them by educating themselves. It seems likes once they were educated they felt as though they were on an even playing field with the Europeans. I like the point in your essay were you mention the Africans changing the European culture into their own, especially when fighting in the war. It seems like it would have been inevitable for the Africans conscripted from the colonies to adapt certain aspects of the European culture. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your essay and feel as though it gave me a new incite and interpretation of the intertwining of the culture.
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation of African intellectuals. I too believed that the few Africans that rose up like Cesaire, Senghor, and Damas used their intellect to intertwine the Europeans and the African culture. However, I felt that they rejected the European culture, more than they embraced it. What I got from these intellects was that they were outraged because of World War I and they felt that Europeans were hypocrites. They were calling the Africans savages, but then they were acting as savages themselves by killing thousands of people. However, I like the emphasis you place on the fact that African were still considered the lesser race because that certainly had it's effects on the fact that Africans rejected Europeans. How could they (Europeans) be superior when they were acting and behaving worse than what the way they were saying the Africans were acting?
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