Blaise Diagne
Blaise Adolphe Diagne (born October 13, 1872 in Gorée , Senegal, † May 11, 1934 in Cambo-les-Bains , southwestern France) was a Senegalese politician . He was the first black man to be elected to the French National Assembly. There he acted as a representative of the then French colony of Senegal.
Life and political career
childhood and education
Blaise Diagne was born on October 13, 1872 on the Senegalese island of Gorée , four kilometers from mainland West Africa. He came from a very modest background. His father Niokhor Diagne was a cook and belonged to the indigenous ethnic group of the Serer , his mother Gnagna Preira , a Mandjaku from Portuguese Guinea ( Guinea-Bissau ), worked as a domestic servant.
While he was still a child, Diagne was adopted by the Crespin family, a wealthy and respected Catholic Franco-Senegalese family. It was only from this family that he was given the first name Blaise , the French form of Blasius . This replaced the African first name Gaiaye M'Baye . As a middle name, Diagne was given the name Adolphe , the first name of his adoptive father Adolphe Crespin.
Blaise Diagne learned to read and write at a very early age and enjoyed a high standard of education. He attended the Ecole des Frères de Ploërmel on Gorée, later he went to the Ecole laïque de St-Louis in Saint -Louis . His adoptive father then sent him to the university town of Aix-en-Provence in the south of France to continue his studies , with a grant from the state government. As the very young Diagne longed for his homeland, he finally dropped out of his studies in Aix-en-Provence and returned to Senegal to the secondary school Ecole laïque de St-Louis .
Activity in French customs
After graduating, Blaise Diagne successfully passed the French Customs Examination and became a State Customs Officer in 1892. As such, he was used in several French overseas territories .
First he was appointed to Dahomey (today's country of Benin ) in November 1892 . Then Diagne was sent to French Congo in 1897 , where he stayed until 1898. He then worked on Réunion from 1898 to 1902 . There he was suspended for two months in 1899 because his superiors considered him undisciplined and disobedient and believed that he lacked the necessary respect for French businessmen and officials. In the city of Saint-Denis on Réunion, Diagne became a Freemason in September 1899 and was part of the Grand Orient de France Masonic Grand Lodge .
From 1902 Diagne served in Madagascar . The governor of Madagascar, Joseph Gallieni, disliked Diagne's progressive political ideas. Diagne realized that his job as a customs officer did not enable him to consider a political career. In 1910 he was sent to French Guiana . Even at this time, Diagne repeatedly criticized racist behavior in public, which ultimately led to his superiors discharging him to France in 1913. However, Diagne soon returned to Senegal.
Marriage to Marie Odette Villain
During his customs service in Madagascar, Diagne met the French Marie Odette Villain , whom he married in 1909. They had four children together. The most famous of his descendants is his son Raoul Diagne , who was born a year after their marriage. Raoul Diagne was a professional soccer player and the first black man to play on the French national soccer team. After his playing career, he coached the Senegalese national football team . He lived until 2002.
Diagne in the French National Assembly
In 1914 elections were held for the French National Assembly. In Senegal there were four coastal cities that had had the right to vote in such elections since 1848: Dakar , Diagnes birthplace Gorée , Saint-Louis and Rufisque , the so-called Quatre Communes (German: four communities ). The people of these parishes had the right to elect a citizen to represent them in the French National Assembly . Blaise Diagne was the only black out of a total of nine candidates.
Immediately after Diagnes entered the election campaign a few weeks before the election, a large number of voters and members of the National Assembly rated his chances of voting as very slim. Blaise Diagne was also still quite unknown in Senegal at the time, especially since he had left the country in 1892 for his customs service. Nevertheless, he was able to convince many voters. In a campaign speech in Senegal on April 27, 1914, he said:
- I'm black, my wife is white, my children are mixed race - what a guarantee that it's in my best interest to represent the entire population. Let me move into the House of Representatives. I will be for everyone. When I go to France, I will always hear the voice of my country, I will support it and come to its aid.
Diagne repeatedly made clear his aversion to racial discrimination of any kind. In his campaign speeches he included all sections of the population. In this way he managed to reach a broad section of the population. Senegal's new, young political elite, influential Muslim priests and French small traders and employees were particularly impressed by his philosophy.
On April 26, 1914, the first round of voting took place, in which Diagne received 1910 votes. At the end of April 1914, after the first successful election round, he wrote the following in the newspaper La Démocratie du Sénégal :
- As children of this country, which rises from the deep layers of indigenous society, we had the right to seek this high office and its dignity just like anyone else and without slipping into cheap demagogy. We have maintained ourselves a high moral standard without falling into the numerous traps that have been set up. Now we are rewarded by the historical spectacle of Senegalese democracy, which breaks the chains of darkness and strives towards secure freedom with the help of the ballot boxes.
In the second ballot on May 10th, Diagne received 2,424 votes, which made up a majority. He thus had the right to occupy the sole mandate of the Senegalese colony in the French National Assembly. The surprise in France that Diagnes was elected was very great. In July of the same year he moved into the Palais Bourbon , the seat of the National Assembly. Thus Diagne was the first black African who was allowed to move into the French National Assembly, which was previously occupied exclusively by white French and members of the Franco-Senegalese mixed race. The success of Diagnes’s election met with rejection from his opponents, mainly large entrepreneurs from Bordeaux . An attempt was made to force Diagne's resignation with lucrative offers. Some demanded a legally effective determination of the validity of this choice, which could, however, be confirmed in an expert opinion.
Diagne repeatedly called for equality between the great races and a fairer distribution of education and goods. During his tenure in the French National Assembly, he submitted several legislative proposals, two of which could be implemented, always following the principle of performing first, then claiming rights . The first law, which he introduced in 1915, introduced military service for the male residents of the four Senegalese constituencies of Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis and Rufisque. The second law he proposed, which came into force a year later, guaranteed full French citizenship for all residents of these communes.
Diagne was part of the Fédération des gauches party (German: Left Federation , Federation of the Left ). In 1917 he also joined the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière (SFIO) party, the forerunner of the Parti socialiste . The date of his resignation from the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière is not known, but probably only a short time after his entry.
He worked closely with the French politician Georges Mandel and was also friends with the later President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor , whom he referred to as his Paris correspondent .
Blaise Diagne was re-elected several times without interruption until his death, despite his opponents who did not accept a black person in the National Assembly and would not tolerate him.
Recruiting in West Africa
More soldiers were urgently needed for defense on the Western Front . Several uprisings against the forced recruitment of Senegalese caused unrest in Senegal. Diagne called for voluntary entry into the army and fair treatment of his countrymen. The then French Minister of War, Georges Clemenceau , who enjoyed the trust of black Africans, sent him back to French West Africa during the First World War to recruit members for the French army. He succeeded in recruiting 60,000 soldiers for the Tirailleurs sénégalais , which far exceeded the expectations of the French government. To carry out the recruitment, Diagne was given the rights of a governor general and he was appointed Commissaire de la République dans l'Ouest Africain (German: Commissioner of the Republic in West Africa ). At the same time he entered the cabinet of Georges Clemenceau.
These acts in favor of the French state gave him ever greater powers. At the same time, the French increased their respect for him. However, some voters in the Quatre Communes did not like the attitude of Diagnes, which was adapted to the French ideas at the time, which in the end hardly affected the successes in re-elections. In the newspaper Les Continents , he was accused of having received a lot of money for recruiting such a large number of Africans. Diagne then sued the editor of that newspaper. Clemenceau stated that Diagne had merely been very supportive in avoiding the anti-recruitment riots and that a financial reward was never addressed.
Contrary to the allegations, Blaise Diagne continued to ensure the welfare of the Senegalese, because in return for the execution of the recruitment he hoped to introduce full French citizenship for the entire population of Senegal. However, he did not succeed in achieving this goal. It was not until about 12 years after Diagnes death, in 1946, when Senegal became a member of the French Union ( Union française ), that the right to vote could be enforced for all citizens of Senegal.
Pan-African Congress
Blaise Diagne first met African-American civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois at the Pan-African Congress held in Paris in 1919 . From him Diagne learned the ideas for the fight against the oppression of the African American know. Although both strived for equality between whites and blacks, they did not agree on the tactical approach. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois took a more radical position than Diagne, and thus greater disagreements arose between the two. The organizers of the Paris Congress hoped that Diagne would influence the Versailles peace negotiations due to his very important position of power , in order to bring forward their own ideas about the future development of the colonial system. However, Diagne defended the colonial system.
In 1921 Diagne and Du Bois met again at the Pan-African Congress. However, Diagne left the Congress before the end of the meeting because he felt that the views expressed there were too radical.
Further activities after the First World War
After the war, Diagne had an administrative career in addition to his duties and responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy: from October 1918 to January 1920, he was General Commissioner of the Colonial Ministry, overseeing the military personnel of the French colonies. In 1920 Senegal also received a colonial council, which consisted of elected representatives and tribal chiefs, but had only limited competencies and little decision-making power.
From 1920 to 1921 he was a member of the French government with the post of Commissaire général aux Troupes noires (German: General Commissioner of the Black Troops ); first under Alexandre Millerand from January 20, 1920 to September 21, 1920, then under Georges Leygues from October 9, 1920 to January 16, 1921 and finally under Aristide Briand from April 2, 1921 to October 2, 1921.
Diagne was involved in the Comité du Trans-Saharan, founded on June 21, 1927 . This committee was significantly involved in the planning of the Mediterranean-Niger Railway , which could only be partially completed and was in operation for about 25 years.
In 1930 Diagne represented France in the International Labor Organization . From 1931 to 1932 he was a member of the cabinet of Pierre Laval as Sous-secrétaire d'État aux Colonies (German: State Undersecretary in the Colonies ).
From 1920 he also served as mayor of Dakar , the capital of Senegal, which the French had expanded into an administrative center. He was also the city's first black mayor.
death
Blaise Diagne died on May 11, 1934 in the commune of Cambo-les-Bains in France at the age of 61. Until his death he was mayor of Dakar and a member of the French National Assembly. Diagne thus achieved a term of office of 20 years in total. Because of his membership in the Grand Orient de France, he was buried in front of the entrance of the Muslim cemetery in Dakar, as the Muslims refused to have a Freemason buried inside the cemetery.
Quotes
- We French natives want to stay French because France has given us all freedom.
- First and foremost, I'm French, and then I'm a black African.
Aftermath
Blaise Diagne is considered a pioneer of his time and the first political hope of the African continent. He was a pioneer of African electoral politics and a defender of equal rights and equal opportunities for all people regardless of origin and descent. Diagne paved the way for the first generation of prominent African politicians, who also felt solidarity with and connected with the colonial powers. He also encouraged the citizens of French West Africa to adapt to French laws and to adopt cultural and social norms. He also continued to advocate tasks that Africans took on for France's benefit, while many Western-trained African elites pursued African nationalism and sought the absolute autonomy of Senegal from the colonial powers. These population groups pioneered independence, which came on June 18, 1960.
Appreciation
Blaise Diagne is the namesake of the Boulevard Avenue Blaise Diagne and the Lycée Blaise Diagne high school in Dakar. The airport Aéroport international Blaise Diagne , located around 45 kilometers east of Dakar, also bears his name. In 2017, it replaced the Dakar-Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor airport , which was no longer able to cope with the increased number of passengers and freight.
literature
- Günther Unser: Intelligenzia and Politics in Senegal. From the beginnings to independence in 1960. Dissertation. Buchhaus Antiquariat Stern-Verlag, Aachen 1971, DNB 720370531 .
- János Riesz: Léopold Sédar Senghor and the African awakening in the 20th century. Peter Hammer, Wuppertal 2006, ISBN 3-7795-0047-7 .
- Leonhard Harding: History of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57746-8 .
- Christian Koller: Massacred by savages of all races: the discussion about the use of colonial troops in Europe between racism, colonial and military policy (1914–1930). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07765-0 .
- Hauke Dorsch: African Diaspora and Black Atlantic. Lit Verlag, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-8258-3929-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Tina Gerhäusser on Deutschlandradio on May 10, 2004: For the first time a black African is elected to the French National Assembly. ( Memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ^ Brigitta Kuster: On the international colonial exhibition of 1931 in Paris . In: European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policy (eipcp). As of December 28, 2007.
- ↑ Country profile Senegal. In: Microsoft Encarta . 2007.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diagne, Blaise |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Diagne, Blaise Adolphe (full name); Diagne, Gaiaye M'Baye (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Senegalese-French politician, member of the French National Assembly, Mayor of Dakar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 13, 1872 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gorée , Senegal |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 11, 1934 |
| Place of death | Cambo-les-Bains , France |