Our lives in their words: These are the 10 best black poets of the 20th Century

Aime Cesaire

Aime Cesaire coined the term Negritude. It was a 20th-century movement, involving mostly continental and diasporic poets, among other artists.

Negritude was a movement of arts and philosophy aimed at empowering the black consciousness and Cesaire ably championed this cause.

RELATED STORIES

The little-known story of the Pattersons of Greenfield, the black family who produced cars way before Henry Ford

Black History Month UK: Celebrate the moral courage of Benjamin Zephaniah who turned down the OBE offer

Check out the top 10 black public intellectuals in the U.S. right now

Meet Ghana’s Alice ‘Baby Jet’ Annum, the sprinter and long jumper who ruled Africa in the 70s

In his seminal Cahier d’Un Retour au Pays Natal (Journal of a Homecoming), the Martinican Cesaire highlights the importance of diasporans reconnecting to Africa.