Diop, Alioune

Alioune Diop, (born January 10, 1910, Saint-Louis, Senegal—died May 2, 1980, Paris, France), Senegalese politician, publisher, and founder of the newspaper Présence Africaine.

French-educated and a Roman Catholic, Diop served as Senegalese representative in the French Senate from 1946 to 1948 and came into contact with leading French and Francophone African intellectuals. He founded the journal Présence Africaine in 1947 and made it a leading voice of black African opinion during a crucial period in the continent’s history. But Présence Africaine was faithfully open to the full range of African cultures and ideologies and reflected the excitement and uncertainties of a period when many African countries were seeking independence. In 1956 Diop organized in Paris the first World Congress of Black Writers and Artists, which was attended by Senegal’s poet-president Leopold Senghor, French poet and playwright Aimé Cesaire, and American writer Richard Wright. Diop later served as secretary-general of the Festival of Black Arts.