When the colonies in Africa moved inland they took on the responsibility for those natives that they conquered. What did they hope for them? The time of slavery was in the past and there was no effort to remove them. Something had to evolve. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The French in this period did a nice job with these stamps being little windows into the far off places. Imagine the young French collector, seeing his future of travel and adventure in the service of his country. Better than the reality awaiting him in the trenches.
Todays stamp is issue A28, a 1 Centime stamp issued by French Occidental Africa for use in Senegal in 1913. This was a 44 stamp issue in various denominations. The issue of stamps would last a full 20 years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
The four major trading posts in Senegal, Dakar, Saint Louis, Goree’, and Rufisque began to be known as the four Communes. Over time the native citizens of them were to be trained in the French language, religion and culture so that they could evolve into full citizens of France. Starting in 1914 those that were fully evolved would be allowed to elect representatives to the French National Assembly, it was a time of French Republic. France was the only European power to grant elected representation in the Home Countries’ Parliament.
Blaise Diagne was born to a Lebu father and a Manjack mother. He was then adopted by a mixed race family. He was Baptized Catholic in the mostly Muslim country. He was given the opportunity to study in France and then accepted a job in the French Customs service. He was elected to represent the four communes in the French National Assembly and advocated for more help regarding an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Dakar. He also impressed France by working very hard to recruit French West Africans to serve in the trenches of France during World War One.
Though Diagne later served as Mayor of Dakar, by his later career times were passing him by. More modern Africans rejected the ideal of becoming French and rather looked to throwing off the yoke of France and creating a new nation. When he died he was denied burial in Dakar at the black cemetery because it affiliated with Islam and rejected him based on Diagne being a Freemason.
Diagne’s children made a new home in France. His son became the first black soccer/football star in France and had a French white wife. His grandson has served several terms as mayor of his home town in France. He also has a white French wife and has not traveled to Senegal post independence in 1960. Proving it was possible to evolve into a full Frenchman. Whether that was the ideal….
Senegal has evolved a little as well. Dakar has grown so large that the old communes of Goree’ and Rufisque are now just suburbs. Diagne is also remembered, it is his name on the international airport.
Well my drink is empty and perhaps I should myself evolve and put the bottle away. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting