Jacques Rabemananjara

Jacques Rabemananjara was born on June 23, 1913, in Maroantsetra. Educated at the Sorbonne in Paris, he became a central figure in the Negritude literary movement alongside Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor, co-founding the journal Présence Africaine in 1947.

As general secretary of the Mouvement Democratique de la Renovation Malgache (MDRM), he was elected to the French National Assembly in 1946. Following the tragic March 1947 Malagasy Insurrection, he was framed by colonial authorities, condemned to forced labour for life, and imprisoned in Antanimora and Nosy Lava. In prison, he wrote master poetic works including Antidote and Les Dieux malgaches. Liberated in 1956, he served as independent Madagascar's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-President.