Aimé Césaire and Suzanne (née Roussi) Cesaire

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Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) and
Suzanne (née Roussi) Cesaire (1915 –1966)
Writers-Activists
Martinique

Writer-activist Aimé Césaire coined the Pan-Africanist Négritude concept along with poet and future Senegalese President Léopold Senghor and French Guianese writer Léon Damas. Aimé wrote that Black people, worldwide, should reject the norms that encouraged the adoption of European intellectual traditions. Psychiatrist and political philosopher Frantz Fanon said that Aimé’s ideas, especially his leaving Europe and returning to Martinique to create unique African or diasporic African intellectual traditions, influenced his own writings.

Raised and educated in an assimilationist French culture, Suzanne, wife of Aimé, pioneered in the search for an alternative cultural framework, but her writings are often overshadowed by the work of her husband.

“The Adobe Photoshop digital illustration combines three separate images. I began by importing the image of Aimé onto the first layer, followed by a woman’s dress, minus her head, onto the second layer, and on the third layer, an image of Suzanne’s head. After adjusting the sizes, values, and positioning, I merged all three layers into one and added a charcoal and chalk drawing filter to convey the time period. Lastly, I added texture to the overall illustration making it more intriguing and the liberating couple regal.”

- Artist Prelli Anthony Williams

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