Research Catalog

Title

Léon-Gontran Damas papers, 1949-1978.

Author

Damas, Léon-Gontran, 1912-1978.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Anyanwu, K. C. (K. Chukwulozie)
• Ashanti, B. J. (Baron James)
• Atly, Lionel.
• Bambara, Toni Cade.
• Botchway, Francis A.
• Brachfeld, George.
• Candiff, Julien.
• Césaire, Aimé.
• Phillips, Lucie Colvin, 1943-
• Dogbeh-David, Richard.
• Dodson, Owen, 1914-1983.
• Dorsinville, Roger.
• Du Prey, Pierre.
• Fall, Kiné Kirama.
• Hazoumé, Paul.
• Hodge, Merle, 1944-
• Baghio'o, Jean-Louis, 1910-
• Gauthier, Monique, 1950-
• John, Gisele.
• Juminer, Bertène.
• Kanié, Anoma.
• Kuoh-Moukoury, Manga.
• Léro, Etienne.
• Ligny, Michel.
• Lomami-Tshibamba, Paul, 1914-1985.
• Malonga, Jean.
• Miatlev, Adrian, 1910-1964.
• Morisseau-Leroy, Félix, 1912-
• Nascimento, Abdias do, 1914-
• Nnolim, Charles E.
• Picott, J. Rupert.
• Pobbi-Asamani, Kwadwo O.
• Poller, Nidra.
• Pedroso, Regino, 1898-
• Rey, Edmonde.
• Rigaud, Milo, 1904-1981.
• Rouil, Marie-Thérèse.
• Sibide, Mamby.
• Stephenson, Elie, 1944-
• Thomas, Clive Yolande.
• Troupe, Quincy.
• Warner, Keith Q.
• Dadié, Bernard Binlin, 1916-2019.
• Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation.

Description

28 lin. ft (28 record cartons)

Summary

Personal papers, professional and literary correspondence, office files, research notes and printed matter documenting the professional and literary activities of Léon-Gontran Damas, an author, lecturer and acting-chairman of the department of African Studies and Research Program at Howard University (1975-1976).

Donor/Sponsor

Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project.

Subjects

• Black people in literature
• Black people > West Indies, French > Race identity
• African literature (French) > Studies and teaching > United States
• Latin American literature > History and criticism
• Césaire, Aimé > Criticism and interpretation
• French poetry > Black authors > Translation into English
• Race awareness in literature
• Damas, Léon-Gontran, 1912-1978 > Criticism and interpretation
• Literature > Black authors > History and criticism
• Authors and publishers
• Negritude (Literary movement)
• Creole dialects, French > Haiti > Texts
• French Guiana
• Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation
• Colloque culture et developpement (1976 : Dakar)
• Brazilian poetry > History and criticism
• Senghor, Léopold Sédar, 1906-2001 > Criticism and interpretation
• Caribbean literature (French) > History and criticism

Source (note)

• de Campos Vieira, Virginia.

Biography (note)

• Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, in 1912, Léon-Gontran Damas was a poet, journalist, educator and statesman who co-founded the Négritude literary movement in the 1930s with the Matinique born poet Aimé Césaire and the Senegalese author and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor.

Processing Action (note)

• accessioned.
• Cataloged

Call Number

Sc MG 302

OCLC

NYPW90-A41

Author

Damas, Léon-Gontran, 1912-1978.

Title

Léon-Gontran Damas papers, 1949-1978.

Access

Offsite material is currently closed.

Biography

Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, in 1912, Léon-Gontran Damas was a poet, journalist, educator and statesman who co-founded the Négritude literary movement in the 1930s with the Matinique born poet Aimé Césaire and the Senegalese author and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor. Damas studied modern oriental languages, literature, history and ethnology, and began his career in journalism and literature in Paris in the 1930s. His first volume of poems, "Pigments", appeared in 1937. He served briefly in the French army during the Second World War, and joined the French Resistance after his demobilization. Elected representative of Guiana to the French Parliament after the war, he was appointed to the High Court of Justice and served as Rapporteur of a parliamentary commission to the Ivory Coast in 1949. During the 1950s and 1960s, he lectured and traveled extensively in the Caribbean and Latin America, where he studied the influence of African culture in the New World. Appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at Howard University in 1970, he lectured extensively at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada until his death in 1978.

Damas's other works include: Retour de Guyane (1938), Veilleés Noires (1944), Poèmes Nègres sur des Airs Africains (1947), Graffiti (1952), Black Label (1956) and Névralgies (1966). He also edited two volumes of poetry: Poètes Noirs d'Expression Française (1947) and Nouvelle Somme de Poésie du Monde Noir (1966). His work has been translated in English, German, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. He was awarded the Prix Carai̤bes in 1970. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1978.

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Finding Aid

Added Author

Anyanwu, K. C. (K. Chukwulozie)

Ashanti, B. J. (Baron James)

Atly, Lionel.

Bambara, Toni Cade.

Botchway, Francis A.

Brachfeld, George.

Candiff, Julien.

Césaire, Aimé.

Phillips, Lucie Colvin, 1943-

Dogbeh-David, Richard.

Dodson, Owen, 1914-1983.

Dorsinville, Roger.

Du Prey, Pierre.

Fall, Kiné Kirama.

Hazoumé, Paul.

Hodge, Merle, 1944-

Baghio'o, Jean-Louis, 1910-

Gauthier, Monique, 1950-

John, Gisele.

Juminer, Bertène.

Kanié, Anoma.

Kuoh-Moukoury, Manga.

Léro, Etienne.

Ligny, Michel.

Lomami-Tshibamba, Paul, 1914-1985.

Malonga, Jean.

Miatlev, Adrian, 1910-1964.

Morisseau-Leroy, Félix, 1912-

Nascimento, Abdias do, 1914-

Nnolim, Charles E.

Picott, J. Rupert.

Pobbi-Asamani, Kwadwo O.

Poller, Nidra.

Pedroso, Regino, 1898-

Rey, Edmonde.

Rigaud, Milo, 1904-1981.

Rouil, Marie-Thérèse.

Sibide, Mamby.

Stephenson, Elie, 1944-

Thomas, Clive Yolande.

Troupe, Quincy.

Warner, Keith Q.

Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 302