Summary
Aimé Fernand David Césaire
June 26, 1913 – April 17, 2008
Place of Birth: Basse-Pointe, Martinique
Notable: Poet, author, and politician
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Show Notes
Aimé Fernand David Césaire was born on June 26, 1913, in Basse-Pointe, Martinique. His father, Fernand, earned a living as a minor government official while his mother, Eléonore, worked as a seamstress. Césaire was the second of his parents’ six children. In later writings, he described a childhood mired by poverty but sources describe his family as low to middle-income.
Césaire learned to read and write French at a young age. His family relocated to Fort-de-France, the capital so that Césaire could attend the Lycée Schoelcher. The Lycée Schoelcher was the only secondary school available for students in Martinique and two other French Caribbean countries. The school system utilized an elitist French structure at a time when many Martinicans outside the capital spoke Creole. Césaire thrived in this environment and stood out as a gifted student who won awards.
His geography teacher, Eugène Revert, helped nominate Césaire for admission to the Ecole Normale Supérieure. The Ecole Normale Supérieure was the premiere liberal arts school in France. Césaire moved to Paris in 1931 to attend the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in preparation for the Ecole Normale Supérieure. While in Paris, Césaire met and be-friended Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal) and Léon Dama (French Guiana).
Césaire immersed himself in learning about various social and economic ideologies. He explored African cultures and the then-current anti-colonialist movement. A budding writer, Césaire extensively read the work of Harlem Renaissance writers. In 1934, Césaire launched Etudiant Noir (Black Student) with Senghor and Damas.
Etudiant Noir was a student journal intended to unite students from Africa and the West Indies. It contained articles that dismissed the expectation that Black students should culturally assimilate into mainstream society. Instead, the trio promoted the idea of “négritude”, a term coined by Césaire. Négritude described a philosophy of letting go of colonial-imposed self-hatred to take pride in African heritage. Put another way, dismissing the idea of Black inferiority and instead embracing the cultural and physical aspects of Blackness.
While continuing to promote the idea of négritude, Césaire began his studies at Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1935. During this period, Césaire passed the competitive national exam that created a pathway to teaching. He met Suzanne Roussy, a fellow student from Martinique who was a fierce supporter of négritude. The couple married in 1937 and their union would produce six children. They returned to Martinique in 1939 and began teaching at Lycée Schoelcher.
In 1935, Césaire had begun work on Cahier d’un retour au pays natal or Cahier. The long-form autobiographical poem which further expressed Césaire’s ideas of négritude was first published in Volontés in 1939. It did not receive much attention.
When André Breton, the French surrealist writer and poet, visited Martinique in 1941 he came across a copy and was so impressed that he helped relaunch Césaire’s poetry career. Additional versions were published in book form in Spanish (1942) and French (1947). But Césaire’s heavily revised 1956 version is regarded by many as being the best.
Upon returning to Martinique, Césaire and Suzanne joined with other collaborators to launch another journal, Tropiques. In addition to négritude, this journal included facets of other ideologies including Surrealism and Marxism. It also served as an outlet for speaking out against the Vichy colonialist government of Nazi-occupied France. Césaire joined the French Communist Party (PCF) which emerged in opposition to the Vichy government.
In 1945, at the age of 32, Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France. Excluding a brief absence, Césaire would hold the mayoral position for the next 56 years. In 1946, he was chosen as deputy for Martinique to the national assembly in Paris and remained in that position until he retired in 1993.
During his tenure, Césaire helped to negotiate Martinique’s political integration rather than independence from France. Martinique was among a group of French colonies whose development had been neglected. With this new arrangement, Martinique would be considered an overseas department of France while receiving subsidies. The hope was that Martinique would have increased autonomy while using the subsidies to quickly raise its standard of living.
Sources
- “Aimé Césaire.” 2024. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. June 22, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aime-Cesaire.
- “Aimé Fernand Césaire.” n.d. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Accessed August 22, 2024. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/aimae-fernand-caesaire.
- Micklin, Anna. 2021. “Aimé Césaire (1913-2008).” Blackpast.Org. June 26, 2021. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/cesaire-aime-1913-2008/.
- “Obituary: Aimé Césaire.” 2008. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. April 20, 2008. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/21/3.
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