The bust of Aimé Césaire

Le Diamant

Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) was a writer, poet, and politician from Martinique. He was an iconic figure in anti-colonial thought and a co-founder of the Négritude movement. This bust was unveiled in 2013 to commemorate the centennial of his birth.

Aimé Fernand David Césaire was born in Basse Pointe, Martinique, into a modest family of seven children. He attended the Lycée Schoelcher in Fort-de-France, then the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he became friends with Léopold Sédar, and finally the École Supérieure.

Aimé Césaire came into contact with young African students and became aware of the cultural alienation that characterized colonial societies in Martinique and French Guiana. Along with other students, he founded the newspaper *L’Étudiant noir* in 1934.
In response to the cultural oppression of the French colonial system, Aimé Césaire began writing in 1936 and coined the concept of “negritude.” He sought to combat France’s attempts at cultural assimilation and to promote African culture, which had fallen victim to the racism engendered by colonialism. His vision was one of active and concrete humanitarianism that defended all the oppressed people of the world: I AM OF THE RACE OF THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED