New Directions

Volume 5 | Issue 4 Article 2

7-1-1978

Leon Damas: A Memorial DedicationDaniel L. Racine

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Recommended CitationRacine, Daniel L. (1978) "Leon Damas: A Memorial Dedication," New Directions: Vol. 5: Iss. 4, Article 2.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol5/iss4/2

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LEON DAMASA Memorial Dedication

4 By Daniel L Racine

It was most fitting that the Fourth AnnualConference of Afro-American Writers,sponsored by the Institute for the Arts andthe Humanities, was dedicated to LeonGontran Damas, poet and co-founder ofNeg ritude. Damas was one of the most en-cou rag ing mem bers of the Advisory Boardof the Institute and his dynamic, creativeparticipation in its activities and particu-larly its annual conferences, are wellknown.

As for the Institute, it deserves credit forhaving fully recognized the value andprestige of a man of the intemational stat-ure of Damas, to such a point that it let himplay an important role in the developmentand elaboration of its programs. And itwas thanks to this unquestionable recog-nition that Damas, in May 1975, receiveda plaque from the Institute with the follow-ing inscriptions:

"To Leon Gontran Damas, herald ofNegritude, distinguished poet andscholet=tot the breadth and clarity ofhis vision of international African soul."

Had Damas lived a few months longer,no doubt he would have been among theparticipants of the writers conferencewhich was held last May. He would havebeen surrounded by familiar faces andfriends; for he knew everyone personallyand had read and encouraged theirworks.The invaluable library that he left showseloquent evidence of such popularityamong Afro-American writers. Just pick atrandom some of the books out of theshelves and you will read testimoniessuch as these: .

"To my brother and teacher=for ourpeople, love and blackness," March,1973, signed Don Lee, alias Haki Madhu-buti, on a book entitled: From Plan toPlanet; or this other autograph:

"To Leon Damas, much love for you andyour poetry, keep on keeping on, Love":Jayne Cortez, April 27, 1971, on her Festi-val and Funerals; or:

"For Leon Damas, my artistic and politi-cal father, for whom I am grateful; with

warm respect and love," June Jordan,1974, on her volume: Some Changes; oragain:

"To my friend and brother, Leon, thebrilliant elder= a statesman poet who hasinspired so many of us and to his beauti-ful wife, Marietta, my warmest thanks anddeepest affection," signed Fredy (for Wil-fred Cartey), September 1973, on TheHouse of Blue Writing. Here is anotherone:

"To Leon Damas plus Mrs. Damas, andthe past, future work, may the forces of ourforefathers keep singing in you in yourhousehold. May your fight shine' shine!shine! Happy birthday, happy others,happy always, press on, press on; peace,brother, peace, sister," March 30, 1973,signed Eugene Redmond, on his volume:Song from an Afro-phone. Still more:

"Beautiful Leon Damas! The sun walkedindoor!" Washington, March 12, 1977:Larry Neal, on: Hoo-Doo Hal/erin' BebopGhosts.

Let us take a few more. Here the wordsare in French and the translation is: "Tothe poet, to the friend, to the brother, LeonDamas, with admiration and gratitude,"signed, Mercer Cook, on Black Militant;

Another testimony in French reads: "ToLeon Damas and Marietta, his wife, withadmiration of his poetry of Negritude hu-manity, with respect, gratitude and affec-tion, thanks, brother, thanks, sister, goodfriends in time of need," Sterling Brown,after a reading at Federal City College,May 22, 1973. The author of this book, Un-derstanding the New Black Poetry, is notSterling Brown, but Stephen Henderson,who also wrote the following on the samevolume, September 1973: "To Leon Da-mas, one of the giants of Negritude, greatspirit and poet~Best."

On the anthology entitled Sounds Free-dom Ring, by Bill Martin, Jr., we find Sam-uel Allen's autograph next to one of hispoems, and he wrote in French: "For LeonDamas, great master of Negritude, friend-ly," the date is not mentioned.

Still another signature of gratitude isthat of Maya Angelou who wrote:

"For the Damas family, thank you -your constant inspiration. Joy!" Novem1974, on Gather in My Name.

On the last book presented to him atfinal public appearance at an exhibit dicated to him at the Watha Daniel l.ibnin Washington, D. C., by the Institutethe Preservation and Study of AfricAmerican Writing, there is the followi

"To Dr. Leon Damas with grateful appreciation for the many outstand ing ctributions that you have made to our he'age. We honor and respect you this dand always." Lorraine A. Williams, Nov.1977. The book: Africa and the Afro-Arneican Experience.

The list can go on indefinitely and iclude the names of Langston HughesRichard Wright and Countee Cullen, fexample. Also, some of the authors of thlarge number of enthusiastic essays an

. poems that I have received for the mmoria I monograph dedicated to Damas~but this is significant enough to show howriters were fascinated by, and attachto his extraordinary personality. He was acentral figure who attracted the admira-tion and respect of everyone, because hwas considered as the herald and thesymbol of the faith in the humanistic, artis-tic, and cultural values that gather theAfro-American writers.

Despite his friendly relationship with allof them, he was the man for whom the au-dience would stand up when he enteredan auditorium and the one who was lis-tened to with the greatest attentive awe,with the expectation that his deep pro-phetic voice wou Id always have some im-portant message to communicate for thefuture or something to reveal about thestruggling experience of the past. One ofthese messages was that Black artists hadto use their talents to communicate thecultural tradition, values and potentialitiesof their race to the modern world, and theymust also protect their works and theirrights by a strong union of their own.

I remember Damas talking about hispioneering efforts in the 1930s~togatherand unite all Black students in Paris.un-

banner of Negritude. He was onefirst to realize that Black people,less of their geographical origins,

- brothers and shared in the same un-rilt:::;:~ll::le condition. This seems so ob-

3Jday, but one must remember that== the most successful works of slav-

colonialism was the division of- c people. So much so that the West

and the Guyanese would considerIves superior to the Africans, whom

- despised and avoided even whenrerestudents at the same university.uperiority complex was mainly

n on Iighter pigmentation and the de-of civilization and assimilation re-

by the uprooted group from the:ialists.

as was one of the first to be awaredangers of division and alienations created by Western colonialism.de it a point to expose it and this

ooe of his deepest commitments.e beginning, he was a committed

a militant. He founded and editedous review, The Black Student,

sought to unite all Black studentsread his messages and who ex-

I::lrr=soed their ideas without hypocrisy andauthenticity. Thus Damas invited~o be themselves in their writings

ir attitudes, to resist a borrowed or.~...,.,oriculture. In other words, his mes-

_- HaS to be Black and be proud of it.- revolutionary publication which was

IIPlI'=::n:;lngsuch a change in attitude wasted by the authorities in France,

=- ihilated to such an exent that no-Ti it is to be found today. But its mes-

_- awoke the consciousness of many"1;3::..!S- never to be forgotten. As a resuIt,

lost his scholarship, and evenpport from his bourgeois family.

_.:- =---.."riencedlong periods of privation;- liged to take odd jobs in order to

•••••. ':O''''''_andcontinue his studies.s' acute racial awareness led him

_ law and study Black culture in-the Institute of Ethnology. At the

"me, he mingled with American"rES such as Langston Hughes, Jean

Toomer, Countee Cullen and other mem-bers of the Harlem Renaissance whoseworks he read and translated before hepublished his own. His first volume ofpoetry, Pigments, was published in 1937.It was a work of protest- if not revolt-against a situation, a condition or even aworld in which he-of African descentwith slave ancestors-did not feel quitecomfortable. In several of his poems, Da-mas expressed discontent for havingbeen alienated from his native Africanculture, in order to assimilate and to beassim ilated to a strange European culture.He felt ridiculous. Hence the famouspoem, "Solde," translated as "Bargain" inEnglish. The opening lines read:

"I feel ridiculousin their shoesin their dinner jacketin their shirt frontin their stiff color ... "

Damas, therefore, wrote such poems toclaim the culture where he belonged, toreturn to African values, to those Blackdolls which he so pathetically begs to getback in his poem, "Limbe" ("Blues" inEnglish). For example: the space that washis, the custom, the days, the life, the sing-ing, the rhythm, the toil, the footpath, thewater, the hut, the fire-blackened ground,the wisdom, the words, the palavers, theelders, the tempo, the beat. ...

Pigments is also a cry of indignationbecause of injustice against Black peo-ple, a condemnation of racial prejudice,colonialism, imperialism and all sorts ofexploitation. It is an exhortation of Blackpeople from all over the world-to solidar-ity, as he already had expressed in TheBlack Student review.

In another volume of verse, Black Label,Damas uses his talent to convince theworld, including his own people, that theNegro is the embodiment of primal hu-manity and there is pride to be Black:

"For beauty is Negroand Negro wisdom,for endurance is Negroand Negro courage

for patience is Negroand Negro ironyfor charm is Negroand Negro magicfor love is Negro ... "

5

When Damas became conscious of theinjustice suffered by race and of the ne-cessity of having it rehabilitated, hestarted expressing his feelings in proseand in poetic form, without thinking of anymovement, be it Negritude or otherwise.In fact, the term Negritude was first usedby Aime Cesaire in his Return to my NativeLand, partially published in 1939, twoyears after Pigments. When World War IIcame, the Black militant students of Paris-like many other people-were mobil-ized and dispersed; all their literary activ-ities and publications were discontinued.After the war, Cesaire's book was pub-lished in 1945, by a Parisian publisher.And in 1947, Damas edited the first an-thology of overseas writers--:most of themBlack and some Vietnamese. LeopoldSenghor publlshed in his turn, the Anthol-ogy of Negro and Malagasy Poets, withthe preface, "Black Orpheus," by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was Sartre who first talkedof the sO-81(IBdNegritude movement.Dur-ing the same period, more precisely in1947, the now prestigious review Pre-sence Africaine was founded by AliouneDiop of Senegal, with the collaborationsof Senghor, Cesaire, Richard Wright andPaul Hazoume. Its goal was to diffuse allliterary and cultural writings susceptibleto "define the African originality and tohasten its integrati"on in the modernworld." (Alioune Diop, PA., Nov.-Dec.1947, p. 7.) A few years later, Lilyan Keste-loot decided to gather information, mainlythrough Damas, Cesaire, Senghor and thecontributors of Presence Africaine, to writea doctoral dissertation entitled: BlackWriters in French. A Literary History ofNegritude. The dissertation was defendedat the University of Brussells in 1961, withthe presence of Damas and Cesaire. Ithad confirmed the birth of a new literarymovement: Negritude.

(

:ae banner of Negritude. He was one~ first to realize that Black people,

less of their geographical origins,- brothers and shared in the same un-

table condition. This seems so ob-today, but one must remember that

of the most successful works of slav-~ d colonialism was the division of

people. So much so that the Westzns and the Guyanese would consider

• ·~"'><'<">Ivessuperior to the Africans, whom_ despised and avoided even when

ere students at the same university.superiority complex was mainly

on Iighter pigmentation and the de-- of civilization and assimilation re-

by the uprooted group from theialists.

as was one of the first to be awaredangers of division and alienation

.vas created by Westem colonialism.~de it a point to expose it and this

one of his deepest commitments.the beginning, he was a committed• a militant. He founded and edited

iamous review, The Black Student,•• ~~ sought to unite all Black students

read his messages and who ex--.:==.co~ their ideas without hypocrisy and

authenticity. Thus Damas invitedto be themselves in their writings

ir attitudes, to resist a borrowed ord culture. In other words, his mes-

_ was to be Black and be proud of it.revolutionary publ ication which was

.;:.-::::osing such a change in attitude was

.-==--·<:>ted by the authorities in France,annihilated to such an exent that no

. of it is to be found today. But its rnes-_ awoke the consciousness of many

.t:::::2::'~-never to be forgotten. As a resuIt,lost his scholarship, and even

support from his bourgeois family.~rienced long periods of privation;

OJbligedto take odd jobs in order toand continue his studies.

as' acute racial awareness led him-:::>p law and study Black culture in-

at the Institute of Ethnology. At the- time, he mingled with American

---~ such as Langston Hughes, Jean

Toomer, Countee Cullen and other mem-bers of the Harlem Renaissance whoseworks he read and translated before hepublished his own. His first volume ofpoetry, Pigments, was published in 1937.It was a work of protest- if not revolt-against a situation, a condition or even aworld in which he-of African descentwith slave ancestors-did not feel quitecomfortable. In several of his poems, Da-mas expressed discontent for havingbeen alienated from his native Africanculture, in order to assimilate and to beassimilated to a strange European culture.He felt ridiculous. Hence the famouspoem, "Solde.' translated as "Bargain" inEnglish. The opening lines read:

"I feel ridiculousin their shoesin their dinner jacketin their shirt frontin their stiff color ... "

Damas, therefore, wrote such poems toclaim the culture where he belonged, toreturn to African values, to those Blackdolls which he sopathetically begs to getback in his poem, "Limbe" ("Blues" inEngIish). For example: the space that washis, the custom, the days, the Iife, the sing-ing, the rhythm, the toil, the footpath, thewater, the hut, the fire-blackened ground,the wisdom, the words, the palavers, theelders, the tempo, the beat. ...

Pigments is also a cry of indignationbecause of injustice against Black peo-ple, a condemnation of racial prejudice,colonialism, imperialism and all sorts ofexploitation. It is an exhortation of Blackpeople from all over the world-to solidar-ity, as he already had expressed in TheBlack Student review.

In another volume of verse, Black Label,Damas uses his talent to convince theworld, including his own people, that theNegro is the embodiment of primal hu-manity and there is pride to be Black

"For beauty is Negroand Negro wisdom,for endurance is Negroand Negro courage

for patience is Negroand Negro ironyfor charm is Negroand Negro magicfor love is Negro ... "

5

When Damas became conscious of theinjustice suffered by race and of the ne-cessity of having it rehabilitated, hestarted expressing his feelings in proseand in poetic form, without thinking of anymovement, be it Negritude or otherwise.In fact, the term Negritude was first usedby Aime Cesaire in his Return to my NativeLand, partially published in 1939, twoyears after Pigments. When World War IIcame, the Black militant students of Paris-like many other people-were mobil-ized and dispersed; all their literary activ-ities and publications were discontinued.After the war, Cesaire's book was pub-Iished in 1945, by a Parisian publ isher.And in 1947, Damas ed ited the fi rst an-thology of overseas writers-; most of themBlack and some Vietnamese. LeopoldSenghor published in his turn, the Anthol-ogy of Negro and Malagasy Poets, withthe preface, "Black Orpheus," by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was Sartre who first talkedof the so-called Negritude movement. Dur-ing the same period, more precisely in1947, the now prestig ious review Pre-sence Africaine was founded by AIiouneDiop of Senegal, with the collaborationsof Senghor, Cesaire, Richard Wright andPaul Hazoume. Its goal was to diffuse allliterary and cultural writings susceptibleto "define the African originality and tohasten its integrati'on in the modernworld." (Alioune Diop, P.A., Nov.-Dec.1947,p. 7.)A few years later, Lilyan Keste-loot decided to gather information, mainlythrough Damas, Cesaire, Senghor and thecontri butors of Presence Africaine, towritea doctoral dissertation entitled BlackWriters in French: A Literary History ofNegritude. The dissertation was defendedat the University of Brussells in 1961,withthe presence of Damas and Cesaire. Ithad confi rmed the bi rth of a new literarymovement: Negritude.

6 When Damas began to express hisviews on Black culture-his reluctance tobe assimilated or "whitewashed," and soforth-he was unaware of being the found-er of a movement which was going tospread as it did. If anything, he was per-haps confident that, sooner or later, hewould be able to convince some peopleofthe ideas which he himself had inheritedfrom his conversations with, or his read-ings of the writers of the Harlem Renais-sance. He was also well acquainted withAlain Locke's philosophy of the New Ne-gro: An Interpretation. Damas and his as-sociates, who had also read severalpublications by other Africanists, only in-tended to spread this philosophy in theircircles through their writings. Yet,they ex-perienced moments of discouragementbecause their literature was not alwaystaken seriously and the only way theythought they could fight for their ideaswas to enter the pol itical arena. HenceDamas, Cesaire and Senghor became"Deputes," representing their respectiveterritories in the French Pariiament, duringthe same period.

On his last public appearance, Damassaid that students should be doing moreresearch about the pol itical aspect of Ne-gritude, which he felt was neglected. Thespectacu lar success of the Negritude writ-ers only came after they had been strug-gling politically for the liberation of Blackpeople. At the same time, it cannot be de-nied that the literary seed of the Negritudemovement had grown in the intellectualworld and had an important role on theliberation of Africa.

In conclusion, I present two contrastiveironic situations:

First, by 1939, Damas' Pigments hadbeen translated into several languages,including Baoule, an African language ofthe Ivory Coast. Because the Baoule tribehad read or heard Pigments in their ownlanguage, they revolted against the colo-nial authority to such an extent that theyrefused to be mobilized to fight in theFrench army against the Germans. As aconsequence, Pigments was banned in

France and parts of Africa as a "riskagainst the internal and external securityof France." Moreover, the French policereceived orders to search Damas' apart-ment in Paris and seize and destroy allthe remaining copies of the book..

Second, in 1978, the French NationalLibrary in Paris was a few months ago or-ganizing a comprehensive exhibit on thetheme of Negritude on the occasion of theofficial visit of President Senghor toFrance. Also, the French Embassy inWashington, D.C. reportedly received in-structions to get in touch with Mrs. Damasand get whatever books or documents (ofDamas) avai lable in order to complete theNegritude exhibit. Strange irony of post-humous recognition, a late victory, but avictory indeed I 0

Daniel Racine, Ph.D., is associate chairman anddirector of the Graduate Program, Department ofRomance Languages, Howard University He is alsothe otticiet biographer of Dr. Leon Damas, who diedin WaShington, D. C. on January 22, 1978 at the ageof 65.