Leopold Sedar Senghor was born in the small fishing village of Joal-la-Portugaise, which is located in French West Africa, present-day Senegal. Senghor wrote, “I grew up in the heartland of Africa, at the crossroads- of castes and races and roads.” At the age of 12, Senghor attended the Catholic mission school of Ngazobil. He then studied at the Libermann Seminary and Lycee Van Vollenhoven where he finished secondary-school education in 1928.
Senghor was a poet and statesman. On Sept. 5, 1960 Senghor was elected as president of Senegal. He is the founder of the Senegalese Democratic Blue. He is noted for his concept of Negritude, defined as the literary and artistic expression of the black African experience. He retired from his presidency in 1980. Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Academie francaise (French Academy). Senghor was an important African intellectual of the 20th century.
“L’èmotion est nègre, la raision est héllène.” (emotion is Negro, reason is Greek) “Negritude is the totality of the cultural values of the Black world.” – Leopold Sedar Senghor
