The Nardal sisters are black activists and feminists ahead of their time

What if Paulette Nardal was more than just the “godmother” of Negritude? In recent years, the Martinique woman and her sisters, who ran a literary salon in Clamar only a century ago, have slowly begun to emerge from oblivion. Their names adorn a street in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, their faces appear in documentaries and their texts are read in university papers.

Gradual recognition. Like explorers, journalists and researchers must piece together the pieces of their life’s puzzle to get a global overview. But thanks to the simultaneous publication of two works on the Nardal sisters this week, it is now possible to (re)discover these pioneers in the fight against racism and the women’s issue.

One hundred years after the Nardal sisters arrived in Paris, journalist Léa Mormin-Chouvak published their first biography, entitled The Nardal Sisters: At the forefront of the Black Cause. In this work, the Martinique, which until recently did not know its citizens, traces the extraordinary fate of this brotherhood composed entirely of sisters, a group called feminists.

Seven women writers and musicians, each in their own way, guided the people of Martinique, and blacks in general, towards “racial consciousness.” In a biography with investigative notes, Lea Mormin-Schovak steps forward, questions herself and puts the pieces together to produce a nuanced account of the Nardal sisters’ lives.

“I wanted to shift the focus from Paulette a little bit, to bring in elements about the other sisters, like André or Jeanne, Leah Mormin-Shuvak specifies. For example, Jeanne Nardal played a major role in laying the foundations of Negritude. With its text black internationalism, Published in 1928 in the magazine African MissionJane Nardal actually calls on black Africans, African Americans, and West Indians to unite.

The contribution to the emergence of Negritude, little or even not recognized, was made by the heroes of the movement: Césare, Senghor and Damas. But it was in Clamart, in the salon of the Nardal sisters, that these thinkers met, in the midst of an unparalleled intellectual simulation.

So, yes or no, were the Nardal Sisters the origin of the concept of Negritude, a movement from which they would have been excluded? Like a mystery, the journalist drags the entire book through this interrogation, which ultimately remains unanswered.

“I started from the stated observation that they were women whom Cesare wanted to make invisible. There is that, but it is more complicated.” Identify the author of the biography. By asking questions, rather than providing answers, the journalist gives depth to these women who are often reduced to the image of “godmother,” rather than thinkers.

In their living room, the Nardal sisters were doing more than just serving tea. Paulette Nardal, an English bilingual, was the translator for all African-American artists who arrived in Paris. Thanks to it, African Americans, Africans and West Indians were able to exchange and unite, as Jean Nardal’s theory indicated. In addition to creating fertile ground for the emergence of ideas, Martinican women had their own ideas that they did not hesitate to share.

As an editor, Paulette Nardal has contributed to numerous journals. Upon her return to Martinique, she founded the newspaper Women in the city She urges Martinique women who have just gained the right to vote to go to the polls. With no collection of all his texts, his writings became scattered over time and the fire that burned down the family home in 1956.

“I also think they had a word that was difficult to hear and sum up, Adds Leah Mormin-Shuvak. They conveyed the struggle for liberation and pride, highlighting the contribution of Europe and the West. “It was a very accurate statement.” At the same time, communist and socialist ideas were gaining momentum, calling for anti-colonialism. A position that Paulette Nardal never claimed. “It smelled a bit like mothballs next to the others.” The biographer summarizes.

Thanks for the work Paulette Nardal: Writing the Black Worldpublished Friday by Editions Ròt-Bò-Krik, some forty of Paulette Nardal’s writings, some of which had never before been disclosed to the general public, are now collected in this first francophone anthology. And his ideas are more accessible.

“Despite her conservative side, there is an innovative and experimental side to her. In the same essay, she will talk about the condition of West Indian women in Paris, then nationalism in Egypt, ending with Negro spirituality in the United States. United.”

Brent Hayes Edwards, author of the anthology along with Eve Giannoncelli.

West Indian, Peddler, We straighten frizzy hair or Dances in the Sun: Pigeon and Rumba, Paulette Nardal moves effortlessly between culture, politics, and the world. Through these various essays, he implicitly shows his strong attraction to the condition of West Indian women. “It’s a very constant interest for her, Brent Hayes supports Edward, who describes it as “Social thinker.” This is striking because it is a thread that we find throughout all of his writings.

In his most famous texts, Awakening racial awareness, Paulette Nardal has already established a link between race and gender, as a driver of discrimination. Today, we might describe Paulette Nardal’s commitment to intersectional feminism. This means that it aims to combat a range of discrimination factors that women experience such as racial oppression, but also religious, social and economic oppression.

As early as 1932, Paulette Nardal wrote:

“Women of color living alone in the metropolis, less favored even by the colonial gallery than their easily successful male counterparts, felt before long the need for racial solidarity which would not be of a merely material nature: thus they awakened to racial consciousness.”

A century later, Paulette Nardal’s texts no longer smell of mothballs, on the contrary. “Today, Paulette Nardal’s writings speak to us, Insists from New York, Brent Hayes Edward. We live in a moment where racial consciousness is being brought to the forefront. Paulette Nardal reminds us that it is something very entrenched and profound, and must be understood not only on a French level, but also on a global level.

“What I hear in their texts is that they considered themselves deeply French and that they actually proposed another proposal for French citizenship. A less narrow vision. For me, this reflects our times. This idea that French identity is multiple.”

Leah Mormin-Shuvak, author of the biography

Having emerged from the shadows, the Nardal sisters can now serve as models for current and future struggles.