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Aimé Césaire (World Philosophers and Their Works)

Early Life

Aimé Fernand Césaire was born in 1913 in Basse-Pointe, a town on the northeast coast of the West Indian island of Martinique. Although his family was poor, they were not from the impoverished class of illiterate farmworkers that made up the majority of the black population of Martinique. Aimé’s father was a local tax inspector, while his mother contributed to the welfare of the six children by making dresses. Aimé was the second eldest of the children. It was his grandmother, Eugénie, who taught him to read and write French by the time he was four. The family...

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