The black French intellectual movement commonly known as “négritude” has its place in the bedrock of countless intellectual circles. French-speaking black intellectuals first began receiving widespread acclaim in France as early as the Depression Era when the French Guianese poet, philosopher, and parliamentarian, Léon Damas was celebrated by the white French surrealist Robert Desnos in 1937.¹ Damas, along with the Martiniquan Aimé Césaire, and the Senegalese Léopold Senghor, are widely regarded to be the founders of the négritude movement. …

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison shows us how toxic America can be.

Toni Morrison’s penultimate novel Home begins with a scene depicting two black children watching a group of white men burying a body that has presumably been lynched. Home is a novel that explores the concept of “place”, both as a physical location and as a perception of the mind located in the depths of human consciousness. Physically, Morrison’s novel tells the story of Frank Money and his journey home after fighting in the Korean War. Home for young Frank is the fictional town of Lotus, Georgia. It is a place, Morrison reasons, that is not very pleasant. Lotus is where…

Power, dominion, and control over others have been a central theme for people since the birth of consciousness. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, it only takes three chapters of Genesis before God proclaims that men shall rule over women. The ninth chapter of Genesis discusses the existence of slavery when God curses Ham and his descendants to be “the lowest of slaves”.¹ Current events, particularly in the United States, demonstrate that these themes of inequality are structured into everyday life in the 21st Century, and they are categorically based on race. Modern forms of racial domination in America actually trace their…