Léon Damas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 28, 1912 |
| Died | January 28, 1978(1978-01-28) (aged 65) |
| Resting place | Guyana |
| Other names | Lionel Georges André Cabassou |
| Occupation(s) | Poet and politician |
| Notable work | Pigments (1937 |
Léon-Gontran Damas (March 28, 1912 – January 22, 1978) was a Frenchpoet andpolitician. He was one of the founders of theNégritude movement. He also used the pseudonymLionel Georges André Cabassou.[1]
Léon Damas was born inCayenne,French Guiana, to Ernest Damas, amulatto of European and African descent, and Bathilde Damas, a Metisse of Native American and African ancestry. In 1924, Damas was sent toMartinique to attend the Lycée Victor Schoelcher (a secondary school), where he would meet his lifelong friend and collaboratorAimé Césaire.
In 1929, Damas moved toParis, France, to continue his studies. While he studied law under guidance from his parents, his diverse array of courses in other topics like anthropology, history, and literature sparked his interest in radical politics. There, he reunited with Césaire and was introduced toLéopold Senghor. In 1935, the three young men published the first issue of the literary reviewL'Étudiant noir (The Black Student), which provided the foundation for what is now known as theNégritude Movement, a literary and ideological movement of French-speaking black intellectuals that rejects the political, social and moral domination of the West.
In 1937, Damas published his first volume of poetry,Pigments.[2] The collection reflected his unique literary style, using the French colonial language to break boundaries of verse, meter, and metaphor.Pigments touches on topics of racism, broader issues in the Western colonial culture, and more. ThroughPigments, Damas explored the internalized racism and oppression that occurred within the diaspora, partly paving the way forFrantz Fanon's "colonized personality", explored in his seminal work,The Wretched of the Earth. ThoughPigments was eventually banned by the French government as a "threat to the security of the state", before its removal, it was translated and distributed across several countries and continents.[3] He enlisted in theFrench Army duringWorld War II, and later was elected to theFrench National Assembly (1948–51) as a deputy from Guiana. In the following years, Damas traveled and lectured widely in Africa, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. He also served as the contributing editor ofPrésence Africaine, one of the most respected journals of Black studies, and as senior adviser andUNESCO delegate for theSociety of African Culture.
In 1970, Damas and his Brazilian-born wife Marietta moved toWashington, D.C., to take a summer teaching job atGeorgetown University. During the last years of his life, he taught atHoward University in Washington, D.C., and served as acting director of the school's African Studies program. He died on January 22, 1978, in Washington, and was buried in Guyana. Although the political aspect of his poetry held less appeal in the later years of the 20th century, Damas's reputation was on the rise. His poems, which sometimes experimented with typography and with the sound of words, were astonishingly modern for their time, and they seemed to anticipate the black poetry, both English and French, of a much later timeframe.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
