Distinguished historian and Pan-Afrikanist political leader Cheikh Anta Diop was born in Diourbel, Senegal, on December 23, 1933. Upon completing his bachelor’s degree in Senegal, Diop moved to Paris, where he began his graduate studies at the Sorbonne in 1946 in physics.
Once at the Sorbonne, however, Diop became involved in the Afrikan students’ anti-colonial movement, where young intellectuals worked for Afrikan independence.
He helped organize the first Pan-Afrikan Student Congress in Paris in 1951 and, in 1956, participated in the First World Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. These movements laid the groundwork for a growing Afrikan liberation sentiment, supported by the ideological arguments of Negritude, Marxism, and Pan-Afrikanism.
Over his career, Diop published several books, including seven which were translated into English. His most famous works were "The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality" (1974); and "The Cultural Unity of Black Africa" (1978). Diop received the highest award for scientific research from the Institut Cultural Africain in 1982. As a testament to his global effect, Diop was invited to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985, where Mayor Andrew Young proclaimed April 4th "Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop Day." The many books Diop published in French were all dedicated to African self- empowerment and the reconstruction of a colonially- fragmented identity.
