Diagne, Blaise

(1872-1934)

   statesman

   The first black African deputy to the French National Assembly (1914-34), Blaise Diagne was born on the island of Gorce, off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. Educated in France and Senegal, he served with the French customs service from 1892 to 1914, being frequently transferred throughout the French Empire in Africa and South America because of his outspoken criticism of racial privilege. Returning to Senegal in 1903, he ran for and won a seat in the French Chamber of Deputies, becoming the first black African to do so. During World War I,he served as governor-general for military recruitment in french west Africa, and in exchange for assurances of expanded citizenship, veterans' benefits and imperial social services, he was able to enlist 100,000 Africans. In 1919 he founded the Republican Socialist Party, the first such political party in sub-Saharan Africa. He soon came to dominate Senegalese politics. In 1923 Diagnes's policies, however, alienated many of his African supporters. In 1930 he was appointed French undersecretary for the colonies, and during the Great Depression negotiated France's first subsidies for African farmers.