Présence Africaine
Nos. 24/25

THE SECOND CONGRESS OF NEGRO WRITERS AND ARTISTS, Rome, 26 March – 1 April 1959, under the theme THE UNITY OF NEGRO AFRICAN CULTURES — the sequel to the 1956 Sorbonne congress, also held here. Nos. 24-25, February–May 1959. The work of the congress: ALIOUNE DIOP on the meaning of the Congress; JEAN PRICE-MARS on palaeontology and prehistory; CHEIKH ANTA DIOP on African cultural unity; FRANTZ FANON on “the reciprocal basis of national cultures and the struggles for liberation”; ERIC WILLIAMS and SÉKOU TOURÉ on the political leader as a man of culture; AIMÉ CÉSAIRE on the man of culture and his responsibilities; ẸZEKIEL MPHAHLELE on Negro culture in a multi-racial society; ST CLAIR DRAKE on destroying the “hamitic myth”; the REV. JOHN S. MBITI on reclaiming vernacular literature of the Akamba; and SENGHOR on constructive elements of a civilisation of African negro inspiration. It closes with the resolutions of eight commissions and with the address of POPE JOHN XXIII to Negro writers and artists at the Vatican audience.