Léopold Sédar Senghor

Lore & Background

Léopold Sédar Senghor was born on 9 October 1906 in Joal, a town about 110 kilometers south of Dakar, Senegal. His birth certificate records this date, though his baptismal certificate lists 9 August 1906. His father, Basile Diogoye Senghor, was a wealthy Serer peanut merchant who owned extensive lands and thousands of cattle, some granted by his cousin the king of Sine. His mother, Gnilane Ndiémé Bakhoum, was a Muslim of Fula origin from the Tabor tribe, born near Djilor to a Christian family. Senghor’s Serer middle name, Sédar, means “one that shall not be humiliated,” and his surname combines the Serer words for the Supreme Deity and “man.” He began his education at age eight at a boarding school in Ngasobil, later attended a Dakar seminary, and then a secular institution where he excelled in French, Latin, Greek, and Algebra. He won a scholarship to study in France, arriving in 1928. After initially enrolling at the Sorbonne, he transferred to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand to prepare for the École Normale Supérieure, where his classmates included Georges Pompidou. He earned his agrégation in French grammar in 1935 and taught at lycées in Tours and near Paris, as well as at the universities of Tours and Paris. During World War II, he served in the French army, was captured by German forces in June 1940, and spent two years in prisoner camps, where he wrote poetry and learned German to read Goethe. Alongside other African diaspora intellectuals in Paris, he developed the concept of Négritude, transforming the racial slur “nègre” into a positive celebration of African culture and identity, which later shaped his political philosophy.

Reader's Guide

Senghor was a proponent of African culture, black identity, and African empowerment within the framework of French-African ties. He advocated for the extension of full civil and political rights for France's African territories while arguing that French Africans would be better off within a federal French structure than as independent nation-states. He became the first president of independent Senegal, fell out with Mamadou Dia, arresting him on suspicion of fomenting a coup in 1962 and imprisoning him for 12 years. Senghor established an authoritarian one-party state, later permitted opposition parties in 1976, and retired in 1980, handing power to Abdou Diouf.

Did You Know?

• Senghor was the founder of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc party in 1948.
• He won the 1985 International Nonino Prize in Italy.
• He was a member of the Académie française, the first African elected to that body.
• Senghor spent two years in German prison camps during World War II, where he wrote poems and learned German to read Goethe.

Roots in Serer Heritage and Early Formation

Born on 9 October 1906 in Joal, some 110 kilometres south of Dakar, Senghor entered the world into a family of considerable wealth and prestige. His father, Basile Diogoye Senghor, was a wealthy Serer peanut merchant who owned thousands of cattle and vast tracts of land, some of which had been granted by his cousin, the king of Sine. His mother, Gnilane Ndiémé Bakhoum, was a Muslim woman of Fula Tabor origin who had herself been born into a Christian family near Djilor. The middle name Sédar carries deep Serer resonance, meaning 'one that shall not be humiliated,' while the surname Senghor fuses the Serer word for the Supreme Deity with a term for man. At age eight he entered the Ngasobil boarding school run by the Fathers of the Holy Spirit, then moved to a seminary in Dakar before being redirected toward secular studies. His hunger for French literature was already intense, and he earned distinctions across French, Latin, Greek, and Algebra. A scholarship then carried him to France, launching what he would later describe as his 'sixteen years of wandering.'

Forging Négritude in the Parisian Intellectual World

After a turbulent academic path through the Sorbonne and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Senghor finally secured his agrégation in French grammar in 1935 on his second attempt. He went on to teach at lycées in Tours and the Paris suburbs while simultaneously studying linguistics under Lilias Homburger at the École pratique des hautes études and engaging with social scientists such as Marcel Cohen, Marcel Mauss, and Paul Rivet at the Institut d'ethnologie. It was within this circle of African diaspora intellectuals in the colonial capital that Senghor and his peers coined the term and conceived the notion of 'négritude.' The concept was a deliberate counterstrike against the racism still prevalent in French society, transforming the derogatory label nègre into a proud celebration of African culture and character. This intellectual framework did not remain confined to literary criticism; it became the philosophical backbone of Senghor's political thinking, shaping his advocacy for African empowerment within French-African ties and his insistence that full civil and political rights for France's African territories were non-negotiable.

From President to Autocrat: The Senegalese Experiment

Senghor founded the Senegalese Democratic Bloc in 1948 and went on to become the first president of independent Senegal in 1960. His early years in office were marked by a dramatic rupture with his long-time political ally Mamadou Dia, who served as prime minister. In 1962, Senghor arrested Dia on suspicion of fomenting a coup and held him in prison for twelve years. In the aftermath, Senghor consolidated power by establishing an authoritarian one-party state in which rival political parties were suppressed. It was not until 1976 that he permitted opposition parties to operate, though the political landscape remained heavily tilted in favour of his own party. After two decades at the helm, Senghor chose to retire in 1980, transferring power to Abdou Diouf. His governance record thus reflects a complex trajectory: from champion of African rights within a French federal structure to a leader who concentrated authority firmly in his own hands.

A Voice That Transcended Borders

Beyond the corridors of Senegalese politics, Senghor's stature as a cultural figure reached extraordinary heights. He became the first African ever elected as a member of the Académie française, a recognition that underscored his standing in the broader world of letters. In 1985 he was awarded the International Nonino Prize in Italy, further cementing his international literary reputation. Many scholars and commentators regard him as one of the most important African intellectuals of the entire twentieth century. His life spanned an extraordinary arc: from a Serer family in Joal to the hallowed halls of Parisian academia, from two years in German prisoner-of-war camps where he composed poetry and studied Goethe in the original, to the presidency of a newly independent nation. His poetic voice, his theoretical work on négritude, and his political vision together constituted a singular contribution to how the world understood African identity and culture in the modern era.