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La Négritude: An African Social Humanism seeks to tackle accounts of African society—particularly sub-Saharan Africa—from its roots through modern times.
La Négritude—meaning Blackness in French—was coined as a term in the 1930s, initially as a strategy for political resistance against French colonialism. As the resistance matured, its namesake developed to refer to being proud to be Black, proud of being a Negro—the true and correct word for defining an African Black man’s ethnicity. Instead of being disrespectful, the word became meaningful and beautiful in terms of what it portrayed.
Because of the effects of slavery and colonialism, the traditional Negro-African society transformed into a modern society so different from the old one that many expressed a loss of identity culturally, politically, and economically. This study attempts to redefine and reidentify sub-Saharan Negro-African society using the traditional values that existed before or during the era of colonialism. Its goal is to instill a sense of security and unity among the people—with the understanding that adding changes from outside Negro-Africa could allow positive growth and development without fear of destroying the African character and personality.