The Negritude Movement was a francophone literary movement that took place in the 1930’s in which Black writers living in Paris came together to protest against the French colonial rule, the policy of integration and in order to assert their identity. The movement comprised of the rejection of European colonization, to reinforce pride in being black, and to evoke African values and culture. The movement’s leading figures were Leopold Sedar Senghor, Leon Damas and Aime Cesaire.
The term ‘Negritude’ was coined by Cesaire in his poem ‘Cahier d’un retour au pays natal’ and according to him it means "the simple recognition of the fact that one is black, the acceptance of this fact and of our destiny as blacks, of our history and culture."
The Negritude movement I believe marks a very important part in history. In sociology we learn how Marx came up with a theory that through a process of alienation the proletariat would realize that they are being exploited by the bourgeois. Similarly, this movement occurred when the black felt alienated from their surroundings and realized that this integration of European culture with theirs would eventually eradicate their culture completely, and make the assumption that Black people have no history, true. Additionally, the realization which occurred after observing history and all the humiliation, torture, oppression and suffering their ancestors had borne could have been another reason for the movement. Furthermore, observing the role black people played in the world wars could’ve upset the black community because these black people weren’t only forced to fight in wars they knew little or had nothing to do with but were treated badly during the wars as well.
Also, I believe the realization that being viewed as an inferior race was having a psychological impact on the black community; this was alarming because this would only serve as a loss to the community as a whole. Thus, a movement took place to stop this from happening. See, once some people figure it all out, they want to extend their knowledge onto the masses of their kind and what better way than to use the literary word?
Hence, they used the literary word in order to reach out to the roots of the black culture and to promote a new vision for the black population to adopt. It comprised of black culture, black values, norms, and reinforced a feeling of pride and dignity in being black. The Negritude movement I believe responded to the alienation the blacks had witnessed in the past and hence a sense of realization. Through the rejection of the concept of colonialism, by highlighting the impact colonization had on the black community and by celebrating black identity, the negritude movement serves as an impactful movement till date.
In the negritude movement, the writers did not use indigenous languages; they used French and other languages. However, the impact of the negritude movement on writers like Chineu Achebe, enabled them not only to write about post-colonialism and the impact of colonialism but also write it in the pidgin lauguage, the indigenous language, as Chinua Achebe does in his book ‘Anthills of the Savannah.’
This movement may have influenced black people back then, but today it also shows a ray of light for the other parts of the world that have been colonized and that they too can come up with such a movement where penning down thoughts and ideas could help make people realize how amazing they are and encourage them to be comfortable in their own skin.
There is no clear date that clearly states when the movement ended, perhaps because it probably never did. That’s the beauty of literature, the written word never seems to fade away, you go to a library and can read books that are decades old and they may influence you with the intention they were written with or may enlighten the thought for a revolution.
Literature as we can see has had a huge impact on the way black people have come to view themselves, then and even today. The greatness of the literary word is that it connects people from different regions, like take the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance and the Negritude Movement. One movement was taking place in New York and the other in France however what connected the two was the thought of being ripped off of their roots, which was in turn penned down by the various leaders of the two different movements. These writings were read, influenced, and still influence man. We can see the result of these movements in texts, movies, music, dance, and even paintings.
