Fighting through writing ---- A book bearing the name of Paulette Nardal
is a fairly rare publication. Rot-Bo-Krik editions offer a collection of
articles written between 1928 and 1939 by this activist for the black
cause with the title Writing the black world accompanied by a cover
illustrated with a composition by William Morris. ---- Who is Paulette
Nardal? A Martinican woman who came to Paris with her sisters to
continue her studies. One of the first West Indians to join the
Sorbonne. She settled at 7, rue Hébert in Clamart and opened a literary
salon where we find Césaire, Senghor, discussing the emancipation of
women and the bases of Negritude. Writer and journalist, she built
bridges between the Blacks of Harlem, the West Indian intellectual
community in Paris, Africans and even the Indochinese. Behind this will,
we sense the coming of the contestation of colonization. In 1928, she
joined La Dépêche africaine, a pan-Africanist magazine. The first
article included in her book is entitled Le Nègre et l'art dramatique, a
subtle text on theater, acting and the place of Blacks. How to defend
this place and the dignity of individuals? Quite simply by writing. And
she analyzes the events with a beautiful quality of style. The
denunciation of the effects of cyclones on the Antilles is very precise
and poetic but she emphasizes that the dominant press only publishes the
list of missing Whites, leaving Blacks in Paris in worry, we are in
1928. "How can we describe the indifference of the Ministry of Colonies
to the anxious pain of these poor people that Candide calls "the
Anguished"?[...]However, over there, the tropical sun, insensitive to so
much desolation, continues to pour its impassive splendor on the happy
islands." Facing racism
In Paris, she encounters disdain, condescension, racism. How to find
yourself in a community of sharing? In particular, by going to the Bal
nègre de la Glacière in the 13th arrondissement, you are in the country,
"a little of the atmosphere of the country", and then you go out,
"fortunately, it is no longer cold" in the heart. Paulette Nardal
recalls the history of the Antilles, questions education and underlines
the importance of the Creole language which gives a particular flavor to
social relations on an equal footing with French, not in opposition. A
question that is still relevant today.
The emotion is revealed throughout the pages by the news, the
testimonies that she reports like that of Elisa, this poor Antilles
cleaning lady, walking the cold streets of Paris under the harsh gaze of
the whites.
And often, she denounces remarks, facts, in particular with her column
with the deliberately neutral title, "Colonial news. Books, magazines,
press articles". In a sober and synthetic style, she relates life in
French West Africa, repression in Indochina, the lies of the metropolis
about life in the Antilles with this expression "A beau mentir qui vient
de loin" (A beautiful mentir who comes from far away). Her description
of lynching in the United States is appalling, we are in the 20s and 30s
and it is a young black woman descended from a slave who relates it. The
emotion is perceptible.
Discrimination is also denounced as is the hierarchy of peoples,
established by whites.
Many articles deal with the status of women and particularly West Indian
women confronted with the cost of living in these islands. Misogyny and
permanent racism in France even among Parisian intellectuals encourage
her to create La Revue du monde noir in 1931 to call for a racial
awareness. Throughout this period, she denounces the color barrier in
the Antilles. Three articles by Jane Nardal demonstrate the intellectual
communion of the two sisters.
This collection of articles constitutes a first-hand historical
testimony of the time of the "colonies" but it finds a relevant echo in
today's society.
* Paulette Nardal
Writing the black world
Ed. Rot. Bo. Krik , 2024
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8149
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
is a fairly rare publication. Rot-Bo-Krik editions offer a collection of
articles written between 1928 and 1939 by this activist for the black
cause with the title Writing the black world accompanied by a cover
illustrated with a composition by William Morris. ---- Who is Paulette
Nardal? A Martinican woman who came to Paris with her sisters to
continue her studies. One of the first West Indians to join the
Sorbonne. She settled at 7, rue Hébert in Clamart and opened a literary
salon where we find Césaire, Senghor, discussing the emancipation of
women and the bases of Negritude. Writer and journalist, she built
bridges between the Blacks of Harlem, the West Indian intellectual
community in Paris, Africans and even the Indochinese. Behind this will,
we sense the coming of the contestation of colonization. In 1928, she
joined La Dépêche africaine, a pan-Africanist magazine. The first
article included in her book is entitled Le Nègre et l'art dramatique, a
subtle text on theater, acting and the place of Blacks. How to defend
this place and the dignity of individuals? Quite simply by writing. And
she analyzes the events with a beautiful quality of style. The
denunciation of the effects of cyclones on the Antilles is very precise
and poetic but she emphasizes that the dominant press only publishes the
list of missing Whites, leaving Blacks in Paris in worry, we are in
1928. "How can we describe the indifference of the Ministry of Colonies
to the anxious pain of these poor people that Candide calls "the
Anguished"?[...]However, over there, the tropical sun, insensitive to so
much desolation, continues to pour its impassive splendor on the happy
islands." Facing racism
In Paris, she encounters disdain, condescension, racism. How to find
yourself in a community of sharing? In particular, by going to the Bal
nègre de la Glacière in the 13th arrondissement, you are in the country,
"a little of the atmosphere of the country", and then you go out,
"fortunately, it is no longer cold" in the heart. Paulette Nardal
recalls the history of the Antilles, questions education and underlines
the importance of the Creole language which gives a particular flavor to
social relations on an equal footing with French, not in opposition. A
question that is still relevant today.
The emotion is revealed throughout the pages by the news, the
testimonies that she reports like that of Elisa, this poor Antilles
cleaning lady, walking the cold streets of Paris under the harsh gaze of
the whites.
And often, she denounces remarks, facts, in particular with her column
with the deliberately neutral title, "Colonial news. Books, magazines,
press articles". In a sober and synthetic style, she relates life in
French West Africa, repression in Indochina, the lies of the metropolis
about life in the Antilles with this expression "A beau mentir qui vient
de loin" (A beautiful mentir who comes from far away). Her description
of lynching in the United States is appalling, we are in the 20s and 30s
and it is a young black woman descended from a slave who relates it. The
emotion is perceptible.
Discrimination is also denounced as is the hierarchy of peoples,
established by whites.
Many articles deal with the status of women and particularly West Indian
women confronted with the cost of living in these islands. Misogyny and
permanent racism in France even among Parisian intellectuals encourage
her to create La Revue du monde noir in 1931 to call for a racial
awareness. Throughout this period, she denounces the color barrier in
the Antilles. Three articles by Jane Nardal demonstrate the intellectual
communion of the two sisters.
This collection of articles constitutes a first-hand historical
testimony of the time of the "colonies" but it finds a relevant echo in
today's society.
* Paulette Nardal
Writing the black world
Ed. Rot. Bo. Krik , 2024
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8149
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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