The classics of African literature written in the European languages, go back to the eighteenth century narratives of slave experiences, which were first written by Africans as testimony to the tragic consequences of the European encounter. Martinican poet Aime Cesaire’s long poem, “Notebook of a Return to My Native Land”, contains the most vibrant expression in literature of black racial affirmation. He coined the term “Negritude”, which signifies the black youth’s attempt to maintain a positive racial identity, and has been associated with the intense revaluation of African culture. Cesaire wrote Notebook of a Return to the Native Land at the end of World War II. This masterpiece reaches the powerful and overlooked aspects of black culture throughout the history of the whole world, not only Africa. This is one of the essential poems of the twentieth century by one of the founders together with Senghor and Damas of the Negritude movement. Cesaire’s poetry, as well as the anticolonial novels of other French-speaking writers such as Sembene Ousmane, Ferdinand Oyono, and Mongo Beti demonstrate a passion for African redemption.
The Notebook of a Return to the Native Land represents a significant shift in the current of African culture and consciousness. In his struggle for own people, Aime Cesaire appeared to many as calm and idealistic. For instance, Cesaire peacefully talked about equality for blacks and whites. Cesaire urged blacks to win their rightful place in society by gaining self-respect, high moral standards, hard work and leadership; virtually he writes his whole idea in the title of the poem Return to the Native Land, in other words to themselves. In his poem, the writer especially wanted to teach impressionable black youth that they are born unique and should be proud of their nationality. The work of Aime Cesaire represents the Renaissance of African consciousness..
The Essay on African americans and Native americans
African Americans and American Indians or Native Americans are two of the major subordinate groups in America today. They face many forms of oppression from the dominant group and have many things in common when it comes to this oppression. I would like to focus on five specific types of oppression they face: stigmatization, segregation, ethnocentrism, prejudice, and discrimination. African ...
