Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era. He is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the father of modern Russian literature.
Born in Moscow on May 26, 1799 (several different birthdates have been offered), Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the patriarch of Russian literature, was descended on his mother’s side from Major-General Ibrahim Petrovich Hannibal — an Afrikan (probably from Cameroon and perhaps descended from royalty) who became a favorite of Russian Czar Peter I (1682- 1725). Pushkin was extremely proud of his maternal great-grandfather, and in his unfinished work, "The Moor of Peter the Great," paid great homage to his illustrious ancestor, repeatedly referring to Hannibal as “the Moor,” “the Black” and the “Afrikan.”
Pushkin clearly saw himself as a Black man and closely identified himself with those Afrikans held in bondage in the Americas. In a letter composed in 1824, he stated that: “It is permissible to judge the Greek question like that of my Negro brethren, desiring for both deliverance from an intolerable slavery.”
