Blaise Diagne
Encyclopedia
Blaise Diagne was a French
political leader, the first black Africa
n elected to the French National Assembly
, and mayor of Dakar
.
father and a Manjack
mother originating in Guinea-Bissau, Diagne was born in Gorée
, Senegal
and studied in France
before joining the French customs service in 1892. He served in Dahomey
(modern day Benin
), French Congo
(now Republic of the Congo
), Réunion
, Madagascar
, and French Guiana
. In September 1899, while in Réunion, Diagne became a freemason
, joining a lodge affiliated with the Grand Orient de France
.
in 1914 as Senegal's representative. He was reelected several times, serving until his death in 1934. From 1914 to 1917 he caucused with the Marxist-socialist Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
, forerunner of the French Socialist Party
, before affiliating with the Independents led by Georges Mandel
. In 1914 after recently becoming the newly elected deputy of Senegal, Blaise Diagne was critical in the government intervention in an outbreak of plague which struck Dakar. In 1916 Diagne convinced the French parliament to approve a law (Loi "Blaise Diagne") granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes in Senegal: Dakar
, Gorée
, Saint-Louis
, and Rufisque
. This measure constituted a considerable element of the French colonial policy of a "civilizing mission
" (mission civilisatrice). He was a leading recruiter for the French army during World War I
, when thousands of black West Africans fought on the Western Front
for France.
After the war, Diagne embarked on an administrative career in addition to his responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy. From October 1918 to January 1920 he served as Commissioner General of the Ministry of Colonies with supervision of military personnel from the colonies and workers from France's African possessions. He represented France in the International Labor Office, the secretariat of the International Labor Organization, in 1930. From January 1931 to February 1932 he was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a junior level cabinet
position. From 1920 to 1934 he served as mayor of Dakar.
He died in Cambo-les-Bains
in 1934.
It is alleged that he was not buried in the Muslim cemetery of Soumbedioune in Dakar because of his freemasonry. However, a large boulevard (Avenue Blaise Diagne) and a high school (Lycée Blaise Diagne) in Dakar were named in his honor, as well as Senegal's new international airport, Blaise Diagne Airport in Ndiass, 52 kilometers outside of Dakar.
His son Raoul
was the first black to play professional soccer in France and had great success playing for Racing Club de France
in the late 1930s, winning the French title in 1936 and the French cup in 1936, 1939, and 1940.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
political leader, the first black Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n elected to the French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
, and mayor of Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
.
Background
From a SererSerer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
father and a Manjack
Manjack people
The Manjack people are an ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau. They are known as Manjaku by the Manjacks themselves, Ndiago by the Wolofs of Senegal, Manjaco by the Portuguese, and Manjaque by the French...
mother originating in Guinea-Bissau, Diagne was born in Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and studied in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
before joining the French customs service in 1892. He served in Dahomey
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
(modern day Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
), French Congo
French Congo
The French Congo was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Central African Republic...
(now Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
), Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, and French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
. In September 1899, while in Réunion, Diagne became a freemason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, joining a lodge affiliated with the Grand Orient de France
Grand Orient de France
The Grand Orient de France is the largest of several Masonic organizations in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, founded in 1733.-Foundation:...
.
Political career
Diagne was elected to the French national parliamentFrench National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
in 1914 as Senegal's representative. He was reelected several times, serving until his death in 1934. From 1914 to 1917 he caucused with the Marxist-socialist Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
The French Section of the Workers' International , founded in 1905, was a French socialist political party, designed as the local section of the Second International...
, forerunner of the French Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
, before affiliating with the Independents led by Georges Mandel
Georges Mandel
Georges Mandel was a French politician, journalist, and French Resistance leader.-Biography:Born Louis George Rothschild in Chatou, Yvelines, was the son of a tailor...
. In 1914 after recently becoming the newly elected deputy of Senegal, Blaise Diagne was critical in the government intervention in an outbreak of plague which struck Dakar. In 1916 Diagne convinced the French parliament to approve a law (Loi "Blaise Diagne") granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes in Senegal: Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
, Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...
, and Rufisque
Rufisque
Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797 . In the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar....
. This measure constituted a considerable element of the French colonial policy of a "civilizing mission
Civilizing mission
is a rationale for intervention or colonisation, proposing to contribute to the spread of civilization, mostly amounting to the Westernization of indigenous peoples....
" (mission civilisatrice). He was a leading recruiter for the French army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when thousands of black West Africans fought on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
for France.
After the war, Diagne embarked on an administrative career in addition to his responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy. From October 1918 to January 1920 he served as Commissioner General of the Ministry of Colonies with supervision of military personnel from the colonies and workers from France's African possessions. He represented France in the International Labor Office, the secretariat of the International Labor Organization, in 1930. From January 1931 to February 1932 he was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a junior level cabinet
French government ministers
The Cabinet of France is a body of top administration members of the Prime Minister's Cabinet. In French, the word gouvernement generally refers to the "Administration", but in a narrower sense to the Cabinet.The Council is responsible to the French National Assembly...
position. From 1920 to 1934 he served as mayor of Dakar.
He died in Cambo-les-Bains
Cambo-les-Bains
Cambo-les-Bains is a town in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-People:...
in 1934.
Legacy
He was a pioneer of black African electoral politics and an advocate of equal rights for all, regardless of race. He encouraged African accommodation of French rule and the adoption of French cultural and social norms. Though he was ahead of his time in 1914, by the later years of his life, African colonial politics had passed him by. He continue to advocate an African role in France while most Western-educated African elites embraced African nationalism and worked for eventual independence from the colonial powers.It is alleged that he was not buried in the Muslim cemetery of Soumbedioune in Dakar because of his freemasonry. However, a large boulevard (Avenue Blaise Diagne) and a high school (Lycée Blaise Diagne) in Dakar were named in his honor, as well as Senegal's new international airport, Blaise Diagne Airport in Ndiass, 52 kilometers outside of Dakar.
His son Raoul
Raoul Diagne
Raoul Diagne was a French footballer who played defender, and who had stints as a coach after his playing career....
was the first black to play professional soccer in France and had great success playing for Racing Club de France
RCF Paris
Racing Club de France – Levallois 92 is a French association football club formerly based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. In 2009, the club moved to nearby Levallois-Perret after the club reached a financial agreement with the commune. Racing was founded in 1882 as a sports club and is one of the...
in the late 1930s, winning the French title in 1936 and the French cup in 1936, 1939, and 1940.