Léopold Sédar Senghor's poem "Black Woman" has two types of consciousness. The first is a celebration of Africa, African cultures, and Negritude. The second is an awareness of colonialism and exploitation by Europeans.
Where European, white, or western racists had denigrated Africa as inferior, contaminating, or threatening, Senghor—a leader in the Negritude movement— depicts Africa as a beautiful woman. She is both a mother to some Africans and a lover to others. Where Africans had been taught to be ashamed of being Black, Senghor and his poem tells Africans that being Black is beautiful: a message that Blacks in the Americas and Europe also took to heart.
Senghor's second consciousness is of conquest and oppression by Europeans who took African resources and people. Over 10 million Africans were taken as slaves, and at least 60 million were killed in wars for slave raiding and the Atlantic slave trade. Europeans also took precious metals, rubber, and ivory, most notoriously in King Leopold's genocide in the Congo that killed 10 million. Senghor speaks of Europeans as jealous and turning Africa to ashes.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
What is double consciousness in "black woman"?
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