Négritude is a term much used after World War II in Europe and Africa. It embraces the revolt against colonialist values, glorification of the African past, and nostalgia for the beauty and harmony of traditional African society.
It became most popular by the engagement of Leopold Sedar Senghor, the president of the African Republic of Senegal (1960-1980). He was a boy of Senegal, educated in France, involved in Euro-African culture and intellectually able to make a carrier on both continents. A French-speaking African intellectual, Senghor defended and promoted the cultural heritage of Africans, developing the idea of négritude. Senghor used the term négritude to refer to the distinctive culture shared, he believed, by Africans and all members of the African diaspora (people of African ancestry around the world). He believed that all of these peoples should be proud of their négritude, develop it, express it, and offer it to the world as part of the universal human heritage. At the same time, they should borrow the best of European civilization, being careful to "assimilate, not be assimilated."".
As a writer and poet, Senghor was able to explain the traditions of Africa and describe the value of the African culture of the Negroes. The term Négritude owes a great deal to its French intellectual origin. Beside Senghor, the main exponents have been Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon.
A useful discussion of the various issues involved is to be found in Orphée noir, in Sartre's introduction to Senghor's ANTHOLOGIE DE LA NOUVELLE POÉSIE NÉGRE ET MANGACHE (1948). Senghor's philosophy and the concept of Negritude have received wide attention and criticism. The concept is defined in contradistinction to Europe. .
According to Senghor, the Negro is intuitive, whereas the European is more Cartesian. Senghor's statement about reason and intuition has led to numerous protests.
