France (Senegalese/Cameroonian parents)
•
1 views
David Diop
Bordeaux, France (Senegalese/Cameroonian parents)
Archival Overview
Passionate anti-colonial poet of the Negritude movement whose militant collection Coups de pilon and poem Afrique electrified the struggle for African independence before his untimely death at thirty-three.
Biographical Record
Born in France to a Senegalese father and Cameroonian mother, David Diop (1927–1960) suffered from chronic illness throughout his youth. Moving to Senegal and Guinea, he taught literature and threw himself into radical anti-imperialist poetry, rejecting cultural compromise in favor of revolutionary African dignity.
In 1956, Presence Africaine published his only surviving poetry collection, 'Coups de pilon' ('Hammer Blows'), containing his immortal poem 'Afrique', celebrating the proud, upright Africa rising through blood and sweat. He died tragically when his plane plunged into the sea near Dakar in 1960.
Key Life Milestones
Publication of 'Coups de pilon'
Published his electrifying anti-colonial poetry collection with Présence Africaine.
Tragic Death on Air France Flight 343
Died in an airplane crash off Dakar along with his wife and irreplaceable literary manuscripts.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
0 messages recordedLeave a Respectful Tribute
Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialDakar, Senegal