Zedong's revolutionary army in China inspired similar guerrilla movements. Additionally, the successful fight for independence from British rule in India, led by Gandhi and Nehru, further fueled the aspirations of colonized peoples for self-governance. Shortly after the war, outright warfare erupted in Vietnam, culminating in the French army's defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. Anti-French riots broke out in Madagascar, Tunisia, and Morocco. Most decisively, the insurrection in Algeria began in November 1954, leading to the deployment of half a million French soldiers and nearly sparking a civil war in France. In 1958, to prevent a coup attempt by the French army in Algeria, General de Gaulle returned to power and introduced a new constitution. A key feature of the constitution was a referendum for the colonial member states of the French empire, allowing them to either ratify the constitution or vote "no," effectively choosing immediate independence. Among the African states, only Guinea voted against the constitution and paid a high price as the French quickly withdrew their resources, expertise, and administrative structure from the newly independent country. The other states aimed to form an African federation that would progress towards independence while maintaining friendly relations with France. Although the Federation did not materialize, Senghor's adept political maneuvering and his efforts to find a moderate path to decolonization enabled Senegal to achieve independence with French support in 1961. Senghor was elected as the first president and governed for the next two decades.

Apostrophe

Senghor frequently employs the rhetorical device known as "apostrophe," which involves directly addressing an object, place, abstraction, ideal, or immaterial entity such as a god or spirit. In "Prayer to the Masks," he directs his poem to the masks, symbolizing the ancestors and embodying mythic powers. Apostrophe is typically used to suggest the poet's ability to awaken hidden forces in nature or to revive the dead through the power of their words or voice. For instance, in the latter part of "Prayer to the Masks," Senghor calls upon the masks to assist in the revival of Africa, while also suggesting that his poetic "cry" has the power to elicit their cooperation.

Rhythmic Repetition and Musicality

Senghor's poetry is characterized by a strong cadence, with rhythm emphasized through frequent and forceful repetitions. Several of his later works even include subtitles indicating musical accompaniment by "jazz orchestra with trumpet solo," or traditional African instruments such as the khalam, tama, gorong, talmblatt, and mbalakh, as well as combinations like flutes and balafong or organs and a tomtom. The opening lines of "Prayer to the Masks," where the word "mask" is repeated six times, exemplify Senghor's chant-like rhythmic style. The final line, which conjures the image of dancing feet striking the ground, further underscores the rhythmic essence of the poem, creating a dance of words on the page.

Use of Analogy

Senghor utilizes analogy to create a resonance between the human and natural worlds, and between the historical present and the mythic past. For example, in the third line, the mask is likened to a map that corresponds to the territory over which the wind blows. The lion symbolizes the father's name, the mythic lion believed to be the family's first ancestor, the mask representing the ancestor's spirit, and the noble traits passed down through generations. The imagery of flour, yeast, and bread in line 16 alludes to the colors associated with Europeans and Africans (white flour and brown yeast) and suggests a future cooperative relationship that will be beneficially "nourishing" for all. The phrase "men of cotton, of coffee, of oil" in line 20 connects the characteristics of African hair and skin with the typical products of their labor.

Contrasts and Oppositions

A consistent alternation of opposing lines is a significant technique in "Prayer to the Masks" and many other poems by Senghor. In the first half of "Prayer to the Masks," for instance, Senghor juxtaposes the transient or trivial realm he associates with women against the serious, eternal foundation linked with the lion, the spirit of the ancestors. The latter half contrasts Africa as the dying princess with Europe as the mother from whom a new Africa must eventually separate. Similarly, the future Africa's vitality and life-giving creativity are contrasted with Europe's mechanical, death-driven despair. The final lines invert the European perception of the black man. While Europeans might see Africans as mere extensions of material resources like cotton, coffee, and oil, Africans recognize themselves as part of a creative, joyful, artistic, and spiritual relationship with Africa's natural wealth.

Literary Heritage

Senegal's literary and artistic traditions are deeply linked to the rich legacy of the great African empires of the pre-colonial era, Islamic culture, and the oral traditions of its various peoples. In his poetry, Senghor references the rituals and beliefs associated with masks and other traditional art forms, dance, and troubadour storytelling, often accompanied by a diverse array of instruments and drums. However, the legacy of colonialism also significantly influenced this native heritage with the imprint of French language and culture. The French colonial administrations emphasized education as a means of spreading French language and civilization throughout their colonies. Consequently, when Senghor attended French schools, he learned the history of a country he had never visited while being taught that Africans were inferior and lacked a proper culture. This split in his cultural heritage between his native land and language of childhood and the adopted language and education of adulthood became a central theme in Senghor's poetry, politics, and thought. As a student of French and classical literature in Paris in the early 1930s, he endeavored to reconnect with the African culture from which he had been estranged, taking up the study of ethnography and African languages. His entry into political life, which eventually led to his presidency of independent Senegal, began as an investigator and speaker on educational policy, particularly focusing on the challenge of balancing French and native culture in the education of French-African colonial subjects.

1903: W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk, asserting that the central issue of our era is the "color line."

1928: Claude McKay releases his novel Banjo, which celebrates Caribbean "folk" cultures and addresses the tensions between blacks in the Caribbean and Africans. The novel sparked intense discussions among African and Caribbean students in Paris, including the founders of the "Negritude" movement.

1934: Parisian poet-students Senghor, Césaire, and Damas establish the journal L'Etudiant Noir (The Black Student), considered a significant milestone in the Negritude cultural movement.

1916: Marcus Garvey arrives in Harlem from Jamaica, advocating that the future of black people worldwide lies in rejecting the limitations imposed by white society and urging a return to Africa. His Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) attracts between 2 to 4 million members.

1933: Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party seize power in Germany. Hitler promotes a racist ideology that deems the white, Nordic "Aryan" race as superior, while considering those of Jewish, Slavic, and black descent as subhuman races worthy of enslavement and extermination. These views become state policy, leading to preparations for war and conquest.

1955: Rosa Parks refuses to surrender her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a year-long bus boycott and igniting the movement to desegregate public facilities across the southern United States.

1968: Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

1990: Nelson Mandela, leader of the anti-apartheid African National Congress in South Africa, is released after twenty-seven years in prison. Four years later, he becomes the first president of South Africa following the end of apartheid, serving a five-year term.

1919: British soldiers massacre a large number of unarmed protesters at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, India.

1931: Nine young black men are arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama, accused of raping two white girls, one of whom later retracts her accusation. Eight are sentenced to death, and the ninth, a thirteen-year-old, to life imprisonment. The case, widely seen as a fabrication and a disgraceful display of white racism, drags on for years, leading to several mistrials and the eventual dropping of charges or parole of the defendants.

1945: The Allies liberate Nazi concentration camps, exposing the world to the military-industrial system that exterminated six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of others deemed racially or politically "inferior."

1960: Police in Sharpeville, South Africa, kill sixty-seven young black protesters and wound 186 others.

1994: Between April and July, over 800,000 mostly Tutsi civilians in Rwanda are massacred by their Hutu neighbors. Despite extensive media coverage, the international response is slow and ineffective in stopping the genocide.

1961: Senegal gains independence, with Léopold Sédar Senghor becoming its first president.

1975: Mozambique and Angola achieve independence from Portugal.

1980: Senghor retires from the presidency of Senegal.

Sources

Bâ, Sylvia Washington, The Concept of Negritude in the Poetry of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Princeton University Press, 1973.

Hymans, Jacques Louis, Léopold Sédar Senghor: An Intellectual Biography, Edinburgh University Press, 1971.

Sartre, Jean-Paul, "Orphée Noir," in his Situations III, Gallimard, 1949, pp. 229-86.

Senghor, Léopold Sédar, The Foundations of "Africanite" or "Négritude" and "Arabité," translated by Mercer Cook, Presence Africaine, 1971.

----, Selected Poems / Poésies Choisies, translated by Craig Williamson, Rex Collings, 1976.

Spleth, Janice, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Twayne Publishers, 1985.

Further Reading

Bâ, Sylvia Washington, The Concept of Negritude in the Poetry of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Princeton University Press, 1973. Bâ explores Senghor's poetry through the lens of negritude and African philosophy.

Hymans, Jacques Louis, Léopold Sédar Senghor: An Intellectual Biography, Edinburgh University Press, 1971. This comprehensive historical and biographical study examines Senghor's work and thought within the broader context of African and negritude philosophy.

Sartre, Jean-Paul, "Orphée Noir," in his Situations III, Gallimard, 1949, pp. 229-86. This essay serves as Sartre's provocative introduction to Senghor's 1948 anthology of negritude poets.

Senghor, Léopold Sédar, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française, Presses universitaires de France, 1948. Senghor's highly acclaimed and influential anthology of negritude poets.

----, The Collected Poetry, translated by Melvin Dixon, University Press of Virginia, 1991. A comprehensive edition of Senghor's poetry translated into English.

----, The Foundations of "Africanite" or "Negritude" and "Arabite," translated by Mercer Cook, Presence Africaine, 1971. This lecture, delivered by Senghor in Cairo in 1967, discusses the common roots of North and Sub-Saharan Africa and the potential for cooperation between Arab and Black Africans.

----, Selected Poems, edited by Abiola Irele, Cambridge University Press, 1977. An edition of Senghor's poems in the original French, featuring an insightful introduction and annotations.

----, Selected Poems / Poésies Choisies, translated by Craig Williamson, Rex Collings, 1976. A bilingual, facing-page selection of Senghor's poetry, complete with an informative introduction.

Spleth, Janice, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Twayne Publishers, 1985. An essential overview of Senghor's poetry, including the personal and intellectual context of his writing.