Léopold Sédar Senghor was one of Africa's most outstanding poets of the last century. He was also Sénégal's first post-conquest president in 1960 following the country's restoration of independence at the end of the French occupation. Senghor was president for 20 years and created Africa's most stable and socially accommodating “nation-state”. He also had the enviable record of being the first president of his generation of African leaders to have resigned from office voluntarily.
Senghor was born in 1906 in the Serer fishing village of Joal, about 70 miles south of Dakar. During the first seven years of his life, he lived with his mother and his maternal relatives as his father, a wealthy peanut merchant, travelled extensively in the region building up his business. At 12,
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Citation: Ekwe Ekwe, Herbert. "Léopold Senghor". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5154, accessed 23 November 2024.]
