French West Africa and the Caribbean

 

 

1900 -1960

 

By Nic Stevens and Drew Helmes

French West Africa

Scramble for Africa

  • Also known as Partition of Africa, Conquest of Africa. 
  • 1881-1940
  • The  invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism (colonial expansion).

Coming to Africa

  • Senegal River
  • More Taxation
  • Cash Crops to Meet Taxation Requirements
  • Many had to migrate seasonally to Senegal Peanut Fields

1895-1960

Afrique Occidentale Française

AOF was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa:

 

Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey, Niger.

The Four Communes of Senegal

The four oldest colonial towns in French Africa:

Saint-Louis, Dakar, Gorée, and Rufisque. 

       

Nearly all the Africans living in the colonies of France were not citizens of France except those in the Four Communes.

 

The Four Communes of Senegal

  • If anyone could prove they were born in these towns, then they were given equal political rights, could vote in parliamentary elections, and were considered legally French AS LONG AS THEY WOULD GIVE UP THEIR AFRICAN CITIZENSHIP AND THOSE LEGAL RIGHTS.
  • Africans born in Senegal (originaries: those Africans born into a commune) were often faced with limitations in their rights and career advancement. Although the Africans were the majority, political representatives were often European colonists.
  • Religion - Christian missionaries tried making Africans more French by eliminating the tradition of men having more than one wife.

Blaise Diagne 

 

  • First  black African to hold a position in the French government. Most important politician in the Four Communes. Worked to gain full voting rights.
  • 1914 - was elected as the Deputy for Senegal in the French Parliament.
  • 1916 - Diagne pushed through the National Assembly a law (Loi Blaise Diagne) granting full French citizenship to all residents of the Four Communes. Included the thousands of African men fighting in the North Eastern France against the invading German Army.​​
  • He was a leading recruiter of black African soldiers for the French army during World War I.

The Fall of France

  • 1940 - Germany invades France during WW2. 
  • German forces defeated Allied forces resulting conquest of France, Belgium and the Netherlands 
  • France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north (Vichy France) and west and a "free zone" in the south.


How did the Fall of France affect

West Africa?

1940 - Battle of Dakar 

  • Dakar was the capital of the AOF.
  • After the Fall of France, the Allegiance of the French colonies was in question (whether their allegiance was to Germany or France).
  • Vichy Regime (collaborators with the Nazis) vs the Allies ("Free France", Poland, and Great Britain).
  • Vichy Regime sent military into Dakar. Free France (Allies) who had Charles de Gualle (French General) as their leader, sent their Naval ships into Dakar to persuade Dakar to be part of the Allied group.
  • Allies attempt failed.

1945 -  the French Provisional Government  - allocated ten seats to French West Africa in the new Constituent Assembly called to write a new French Constitution. 


1946 - Lamine Gueye gained full voting rights for all African subjects in Senegal. The Loi Lamine Guèye (a French law to proclaim French citizens all nationals of the overseas territories)  granted some limited citizenship rights to natives of the African colonies. 

 

1946 - The French Empire was renamed the French Union on 27 October 1946, when the new constitution of the French Fourth Republic was established.


 1946 - Under the new constitution, the French territories except for the 4 communes in Senegal were able to elect representatives.

1956 - The Loi Cadre (Reform Act)

    -French government transferred a number of powers from  Paris to elected territorial governments in French African colonies and implemented universal suffrage (the right to vote).

1958 - The Constitution of the French Fifth Republic changed the structure of the West African colonies.

 - Each territory was to become a "Protectorate" meaning it was partially controlled and protected by the French. This marked the beginning of independence in African regions.

-The Federation ceased to exist in order to approve this French Community.

-All colonies except Guinea, voted to remain in the new structure (they voted for independence).

1959 - 1960

  Revision of the French Constitution allowed members of the French Community to change their own constitutions.

 

  Senegal and former French Sudan became the Mali Federation. Senegal later established it's own independence on August 20th, 1960.

 

  Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey formed as Conseil de l'Entente ("Council of Accord" or "Council of Understanding").

French Caribbean

Before Abolition

  • Napoleon I reinstated slavery in May 20th, 1802.
  • Revolts, like Touissants in Hait,sprung up in response.

  • Slaves brought in made up the majority of the population of the  Caribbean Islands.

  • Thousands killed in Guadeloupe by General Antoine Richepance as he helps bring Guadeloupe back under heel.

Sugar Cane Plantation

After Abolition

  • Victor Schoelcher abolished slavery in 1848.
  • Because of the difficulty of toiling in sugarcane plantations, many freed blacks abandoned this style of work.
  • French responded by bringing in Indian,Chinese and West African laborers​. 

  • Women were subjected to gender-based oppression now that the citizenship was

    in place.

  • Former slaves were technically given full rights, but they were still mistreated.

  • Admiral Robert Georges takes over in late 1930s.
  • hoarded supplies and punished those who tried to join the Free France Movement.
  • 13,000 Caribbean soldiers fought in World War 1​.

  • Because of his actions and the devastation of the war, the Caribbean experienced

    an economical decline.

The End of the Colonies

Martinique and Guadeloupe are turned into departments of France in 1946 by the

French National Assembly.

Artifact

Journée de l'armée d'Afrique et des Troupes Coloniales

  • Creator: Lucien Jonas
  • Medium: 1 print (poster)
  • Date/Location: Paris - December, 1917.
  • A World War I poster that shows French soldiers fighting alongside black soldiers from West Africa. It is meant to celebrate the participation and bravery of African troops from the French colonies and overseas territories during the War.
  • It also depicts that in many cases the Africans were placed on the front line as a "scare tactic" for the Germans. The French wanted to portray that Africans were "barbaric" and born fighters.

"A Day for the African Army and the Colonial Troops"

Artifact

 

Creator: B.L. Singley

Medium: Stereoscope Card

Date and Place of Creation: Martinique,1902

Collection: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Relevance: Massive Eruption of volcano in Martinique that killed 30,000 people.

Citation: http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3c20518/

"French Officers, African Officers, and the Violent Image of African Colonial Soldiers"

Ruth Ginio

European view was that the African society was barbaric, and this image served to justify the recruitment of Africans by the French to protect the motherland against European enemies and specifically the Germans. 

 

Newspaper articles, testimonies, and military reports were published to prove the conduct of these soldiers was no different from any other nationality.

 

The French public began to see Africans as "grown children" rather than savages.

 

 

1. Is it right or wrong to use propaganda or exploit someone to benefit a particular cause, and why?

 

2. Ruth Ginio mentions the gradual transformation of the image of African soldiers from barbaric to "grown child"(65). What did she mean by this term?

Ginio Questions

Bilali of Faransekil

 

David C. Conrad

   “‘Bilali of Faransekila’ “: A West African  Hunter and World War 1 Hero According to a World War 2 Veteran and Hunters’ Singer of Mali” makes the claim that oral history and oral tradition  are the most accurate ways of conveying the European impact on West Africa. The author,David C. Conrad,acknowledges that oral tradition is subjected to some discrepancies due to it’s “telephone game” like nature, but when synthesized with oral history they create a realistic representation of a time and place. He proves this by discussing “Bilali of Faransekila” and how the song about a World War 1 hero reveals the African opinion on World War 2 and African independence while being corroborated by the oral history presented by Kande Kamara.

Conrad Questions

Are oral traditions and oral histories an efficient and authentic way of conveying history?

if yes, why? if no, why?


What do you as a class think the meaning behind “Bilali of Faransekila is?

Seyou and Kamara make the assertion that the African independence after World War 2


and World War 1-era Africa are cohesive in nature, Do you agree with these claims?

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