To The Negro-American Soldiers By Léopold Sédar Senghor

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:- 

This blog is a part of a Thinking Activity given by Megha Trivedi Ma'am, a visiting faculty from the Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to discuss the Poem To The Negro-American Soldiers' By Léopold Sédar Senghor.

LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR:-

Léopold Senghor was a poet, teacher, and politician who became the first president of the African nation of Senegal after it gained independence from France. He was born in 1906 in Senegal when it was a French colony. As a young man, Senghor went to study in Paris, where he became passionate about promoting African art and culture on the world stage. He coined the term "Negritude" to celebrate Black African identity and experience through literature and art. 

During World War II, Senghor was captured and spent time in a Nazi concentration camp, where he wrote some of his famous poetry. After the war, he entered politics, becoming a member of the French parliament representing Senegal. As Senegal and other French colonies pushed for independence in the late 1950s, Senghor helped negotiate Senegal becoming an independent nation in 1960. He was elected as Senegal's first president and served until retiring voluntarily in 1980.

As president, Senghor promoted African socialist and democratic values while modernizing Senegal's agriculture and economy. He advocated for better trade terms for African nations on the global stage. Senghor remained deeply committed to preserving and promoting Negritude philosophy and African arts and literature throughout his life. He was inducted into the prestigious French Academy and published volumes of his acclaimed poetry until his death in 2001 at age 95. (Britannica) (To know more about Léopold Sédar Senghor visit this website titled The Senghor myth (Click Here).

Here is a video available on the life of Léopold Sédar Senghor on YouTube:

TO THE NEGRO-AMERICAN SOLDIERS:-

For Mercer Cook

I did not recognize you in prison under your

sad-colored uniform

I did not recognize you under the calabash helmet

without style

I did not recognize the whining sound of your

iron horses, who drink but do not eat.

And it is no longer the nobility of elephants, it is the

the barbaric weight of the prehistoric

monsters of the world.

Under your closed face, I did not recognize you.

I only touched the warmth of your brown hand,

I called myself “Afrika! ”

And I found once again the lost laughter, I hailed the ancient voices

and the roar of Congo waterfalls.

Brothers, I do not know whether you bombed the

cathedrals, the pride of Europe,

If you are the lightning of God’s hand that burned

Sodom and Gomorrah.

No, you are the messengers of his mercy, the

Spring after Winter.

To those who had forgotten how to laugh-only

smile obliquely

Who knew nothing but the savory flavor of

tears and the vexing stench of blood

You bring the Season of Peace and hope to

end of the delay.

And their night is filled with milky sweetness, the blue

fields of the sky are covered with flowers, silence sings

soothingly.

You bring them the sun. The air beats with whispers

liquids and crystalline chirping and beating

silky wings

The aerial cities are tepid with nests.

Through the streets joy streamed, the boys play with

their dreams

Men dance before of their machines and

surprised themselves singing.

Schoolgirl's eyelids are rose petals, and

fruits ripen in the virgins’ breasts

And the women’s hips-Oh, sweetness-

grow generously heavy.

Black brothers, warriors whose mouths are flowers that

sing

-Oh! the delight to live after Winter-I salute you

like messengers of peace.

Explanation of the Poem according to my understanding and with the help of Claude AI:-

The poem "To The Negro-American Soldiers" by Léopold Sédar Senghor is a powerful tribute to Mercer Cook, who served as the Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia. Despite Cook's French origin, Senghor embraces him as a brother and a messenger of peace, recognizing his solidarity with the African soldiers and their struggle.

The poem opens with a striking contrast, where the speaker initially fails to recognize Cook in his "sad-colored uniform" and "calabash helmet," symbols of oppression and lack of individuality. However, upon touching Cook's "brown hand," the speaker experiences a profound connection, exclaiming "Afrika!" and rediscovering the lost laughter and ancient voices of his homeland, represented by the "roar of Congo waterfalls."

Senghor questions whether Cook and his compatriots are the ones who "bombed the cathedrals" and brought destruction, likening them to the "lightning of God's hand that burned Sodom and Gomorrah." However, he quickly dismisses this notion, proclaiming them as "messengers of his mercy" and the "Spring after Winter," bringing hope and peace to those who had forgotten how to laugh and had known only the bitterness of tears and the stench of blood.

The poem vividly depicts the transformative power of Cook's presence, as the night is filled with "milky sweetness," the sky adorned with flowers, and silence sings soothingly. Senghor portrays Cook and his comrades as bringers of the sun, filling the air with whispers, liquid sounds, and the beating of silky wings, creating an atmosphere of warmth and rejuvenation.

The poem's imagery extends to the impact on the people, with joy streaming through the streets, boys playing with their dreams, and men dancing before their machines, surprised by their own singing. The schoolgirls' eyelids are likened to rose petals, and fruits ripen in the virgins' breasts, symbolizing the fertility and abundance that accompanies the newfound peace.

In the final stanza, Senghor addresses Cook and his "Black brothers" as "warriors whose mouths are flowers that sing," expressing his delight in living after the metaphorical Winter and saluting them as messengers of peace. The poem celebrates Cook's empathy and understanding of the African soldiers' pain, transcending racial boundaries and embracing him as a brother in the pursuit of peace and renewal. (It might be possible that this interpretation is different, it is totally according to my point of view)

👉Here is an article titled 'Hello and Goodbye to Négritude: Senghor, Dadié, Dongala, and America' which might help to understand the idea of Negritude.

The article explores how three prominent francophone African writers - Leopold Senghor, Bernard Dadie, and Emmanuel Dongala - have represented the United States in their works, particularly through the lens of the Negritude movement's ideology around Black racial identity. 

For the Negritude proponents Senghor and Dadie, America occupies a complex space as both the racial "Other" given its white mainstream culture, but also containing the resonant "Self" in the form of the African-American community. Senghor's poems like "To the Black American Troops" and "Elegy for Martin Luther King" celebrate the ties of racial kinship, praising African-Americans as brothers contributing to the universal civilization that Negritude sought to forge between African and European values. 

Dadie's satirical novel One Way critiques American materialism, racism, and conformity, but his narrator also expresses a yearning for African-American integration and recognition of their vital role in shaping American culture, imagining they could revitalize America with their innate sense of rhythm and emotion prized by Negritude.

In contrast, Dongala's anti-Negritude novel Un fusil dans la main rejects any intrinsic racial unity between Africans and African-Americans. His character Mayela, while inspired by Black American activists, feels Africa is a lived reality for him but only a myth for the African-American Meeks, who dies tragically seeking to "return to the roots" by fighting in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle.

The article traces how this divergence reflects the rejection of Negritude's racial essentialism by a new generation of African writers and thinkers after independence. While acknowledging race's undeniable socio-political impacts, the article suggests more recent African literature has moved towards exploring cultural differences vis-a-vis the West and the colonial legacy, rather than asserting a monolithic racial identity.

Here is about the Senghor from the words of Cook who is addressed in this poem.

Senghor, of course, was hospitality itself. He welcomed me. When I presented my letter of my credentials, I mentioned our former friendship and how in 1934 he was telling me about the beauties of Africa, the beauties of Senegal, the importance of Senegal, the future of Senegal. And I was telling him what he most wanted to know about the writing scene, the writers, black writers in the United States. As early as 1934, I was amazed to hear him quote, by heart, poetry by Langston Hughes, by Sterling Brown, by Countee Cullen, by Claude McKay and by other black American writers and poets. That, of course, was the first side of Senghor that I had noted. And that, of course, had been continued and had developed. Incidentally, in his autobiography he was asked what books, if he were on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, what books would he take with him? And the fifth book he put down there was Langston Hughes’ first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, which, as you may remember, was published back in the 1920’s. (Association) 

Here is a video available on YouTube which helps to understand What is Négritude?

WORKS CITED:-

• Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. “SENEGAL COUNTRY READER 2011.” ADST, https://adst.org/Readers/Senegal.pdf. Accessed 30 March 2024.
• Bobin, Florian. “The Senghor myth.” Africa Is a Country, 6 September 2020, https://africasacountry.com/2020/06/the-senghor-myth. Accessed 30 March 2024.
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Léopold Senghor". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leopold-Senghor. Accessed 30 March 2024.

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