Léopold Sédar Senghor

1906 - 2001

photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

country of citizenship: France, Senegal

native language: French

languages spoken, written or signed: French

educated at: Faculty of Arts of Paris, École Normale Supérieure, Lycée Louis-le-Grand

occupation: politician, poet, writer, French Resistance fighter, philosopher

award received: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres‎, Commander of the French Order of Academic Palms, Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic‎, Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, Prince Pierre Award, Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, Roger Nimier Prix, Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire, Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize, Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion, Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, anniversary medal at the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Iranian Empire, honorary doctorate at the Laval University, International Nonino Prize, honorary doctorate of Salzburg University, honorary doctor of the University of Vienna, honorary doctor of the University of Padua, Collar of the Order of Pope Pius IX, Distinguished Africanist Award, Golden Wreath, Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland

position held: President of Senegal, member of the French National Assembly, chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity, senator of the Community, Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, seat 16 of the Académie française

Léopold Sédar Senghor (; French: [sɑ̃ɡɔʁ]; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80). Ideologically an African socialist, he was one of the major theoreticians of Négritude. Senghor was a proponent of African culture, black identity and African empowerment within the framework of French-African ties. He advocated for the extension of full civil and political rights for France's African territories while arguing that French Africans would be better off within a federal French structure than as independent nation-states. Senghor became the first President of independent Senegal. He fell out with his long-standing associate Mamadou Dia who was Prime Minister of Senegal, arresting him on suspicion of fomenting a coup and imprisoning him for 12 years. Senghor established an authoritarian single-party state in Senegal where all rival political parties were prohibited. Senghor was also the founder of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc party. Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française and won the 1985 International Nonino Prize in Italy. He is regarded by many as one of the most important African intellectuals of the 20th century. Source: Wikipedia (en)