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The concept of Negritude represents an historic development in the formulation of the African Diaspora identity and culture in the 20th century. First used by Aime Cesaire in his 1939 poem, “Return to My Native Land”, the term “Negritude” marks a revalorization of Africa for the New Negro, affirming an overwhelming pride in black heritage and culture, the African essence and asserting, in Marcus Garvey's words, that blacks are "descendants of the greatest and proudest race who ever peopled the earth."

The historical origins of Negritude can be traced to the various forms of cultural expression in the French Caribbean that find their roots in the African continent, practices that were transmogrified by the experience of slavery. Like the Negro Spirituals in The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois, a variety of arts and practices served as refuges for Afro-Caribbean pride and the African culture: such were the dances of laghia and congo and the multitude of practices arising from the Haitian Vodun and Cuban Santeria.

The concept of Negritude finds its roots in the thoughts of William Blyden, and W. E. B. Du Bois, each of who sought to erase the stigma attached to the black world through their intellectual and political efforts on behalf of the African Diaspora. Léopold Senghor, a Senegalese poet, and one of the most important forces in the Negritude movement, also defined and theorized Negritude as the “sum-total of the cultural values and expressions of the black world; and ways and adopt another culture.”

The Negritude movement was primarily born out of resistance to assimilation and colonial alienation of black people. The French official policy toward its colonial subjects worldwide openly encouraged assimilation of the ...

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...iters, such as Birago Diop from Senegal, whose poems explore the mystique of African life and David Diop, writer of revolutionary protest poetry. The movement largely faded in the early 1960s when its political and cultural objectives had been achieved in most African countries. This is because most countries had received their independence.

In conclusion, many of the major characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and the Negritude movement were very similar; both were born out of social injustice that occurred through slavery and colonialism. Both eras had experienced War, World War I during the Harlem renaissance and World War II during the Negritude movement. They both gave meaning and new hope to black people by reaffirming the black identity and originality. Most importantly, these movements brought about a change that was needed at that particular time.