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‘THE COLOR OF THE PUPILS’: SCHOOLING AND RACE IN SENEGAL'S CITIES, 1900–10*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2012

KELLY DUKE BRYANT
KELLY DUKE BRYANT*
Affiliation:
Rowan University
*
Author's email: duke-bryant@rowan.edu.
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Abstract

This article explores the politics of race and education in early twentieth-century urban Senegal, focusing on the exclusion of African students from certain schools and on the political controversy that grew out of a 1909 education reform. Based on letters from officials, politicians, and African residents, along with minutes from the General Council, it suggests that changes in urban society and colonial policy encouraged people to view access to schooling in terms of race. This article argues that in debating segregation and education quality, residents contributed to a discourse on race that reflected an increasing racial consciousness in the society at large.

Keywords

Senegalcolonialeducationraceracismurban
Type
Race, Education, and the Politics of Nationalism
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , November 2011 , pp. 299 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

*

This research was generously funded by Rowan University, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program, the International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and a TIAA-CREF Ruth Simms Hamilton Research Fellowship. I am grateful to Sara Berry and Pier Larson for taking the time to read and comment on many drafts of this article and to this journal's anonymous readers and editors for their useful suggestions.

References

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16 For more on these policies, deemed the ‘mise en valeur’ of the colonies, see Conklin, A Mission, 41–3.

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19 Arrêté 1097, Journal Officiel du Sénégal, 14 Oct. 1909, 581–2Google Scholar; Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 194–5, 204; Roux, Manuel, 525–6; Bouche, ‘L'Enseignement’, II, 603.

20 ANS J19, 2 Mar. 1909, gouverneur général Ponty to lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal; ANS J19, Dakar 13 Sep. 1909, gouverneur général to lieutenant gouverneur, Sénégal.

21 See, for example, Ngalamulume, K., ‘Keeping the city totally clean: yellow fever and the politics of prevention in colonial Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal, 1850–1914’, Journal of African History, 45 (2004), 183–202CrossRefGoogle Scholar; C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, ‘Residential segregation in African cities’, in T. Falola and S. J. Salm (eds.), Urbanization and African Cultures (Durham, 2005), 344–7; Schler, L., The Strangers of New Bell: Immigration, Public Space and Community in Colonial Douala, Cameroon, 1914–1960 (Pretoria, 2008)Google Scholar, chap. 2; Bigon, L., A History of Urban Planning in Two West African Colonial Capitals: Residential Segregation in British Lagos and French Dakar (1850–1930) (Lewiston, 2009)Google Scholar, part 2, chap. 3.

22 Echenberg, M., Black Death, White Medicine: Bubonic Plague and the Politics of Public Health in Colonial Senegal, 1914–1945 (Portsmouth, 2002), 27–30Google Scholar.

23 D'Anfreville de la Salle, Notre vieux SéNégal: son histoire, son état actuel, ce qu'il peut devenir (Paris, 1909), 58Google Scholar; O'Brien, R. Cruise, White Society in Black Africa: The French in Senegal (Evanston, 1972), 47Google Scholar, 54. Despite the incompleteness and likely inaccuracies that characterize these (and most) colonial population statistics, the general trend toward an increase in the European population is clear. In 1909, Rufisque had some 12,446 total residents and Dakar had 18,447. Cruise O'Brien determined that Dakar's European population was 2,500 in 1910. A government census completed in 1914 is generally consistent with the trends discussed here. ANS 22G29 Tableau récapitulatif de la population européenne, 1914; ANS 22G29, Tableau récapitulatif de la population des principales villes, 1914.

24 D'Anfreville, Notre, 37, 105. This proportion held in 1914, according to a census document. Of the 380 Europeans in Saint-Louis reported, 211 were men, 85 were women, and 84 were children under 15. ANS 22G29 Tableau récapitulatif de la population européenne, 1914.

25 ANS 1G3, Dakar, 22 Mar. 1905, M. Melou, Directeur de l’école de Dakar, to M. l'Inspecteur. Melou proposed solving this problem by creating a ‘special class’ for whites; Lieutenant Governor Camille Guy rejected this in a margin note.

26 Betts, R. F., Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890–1914 (New York, 1961), 78Google Scholar.

27 Ly, Les instituteurs, VI, 463–4.

28 ANS 1G18, Saint-Louis, 9 Nov. 1904, Chef du Service de l'Enseignement to gouverneur. Emphasis in original.

29 ANS 1G18, Saint-Louis, 8 Nov. 1904, Souleymane Sao to Secrétaire Général du Gouvernement du Sénégal.

30 ANS 1G18, Saint-Louis, 9 Nov. 1904, Chef du Service de l'Enseignement to gouverneur and response.

31 ANS 1G3, Saint-Louis, 14 Nov. 1904, Hyacinthe Devès to gouverneur. Gamin does not necessarily imply a biological relationship. Orphans and children not recognized by their fathers often had two given names (such as Hyppolite Pierre) rather than a surname, and ‘Niay’ is a variation on a common Wolof and Sereer surname.

32 ANS 1G3, Saint-Louis, 14 Nov. 1904, Alkébé N'Diaye to Secrétaire Général. Emphasis in original.

33 ANS 1G3, 8 Nov. 1905, Inspecteur to M. Couraud. Emphasis in original.

34 Ibid.

35 This approach was by no means common to all European educators. Rather, some employed more obvious racial markers. See, for example, ANS 1G3, Dakar, 22 Mar. 1905, M. Melou, Directeur de l’école de Dakar, to M. l'Inspecteur; ANS 1G3, 27 Mar. 1905, Directrice Duhaumont to Directeur de l'Enseignement Primaire du Sénégal.

36 ANS 1G3, Gorée, 20 Mar. 1906, E. Mutterer, Commis des Affaires indigènes to Directeur de l'Enseignement; ANS 1G3, Gorée, 24 Mar. 1906, E. Degrave to Chef du Service de l'Enseignement.

37 Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 398–400; Ly, Les instituteurs, VI, 447. Both of these explanations seem likely. In a comparable case, a 1908 report indicated that the authority of a Dakar teacher, M. Niénat, suffered because he was ‘“assimilé.”’ Students, and especially the ‘Europeans’ among them, would have more respect for a ‘metropolitan schoolmaster’, his supervisor concluded. See ANS J28, Dakar, 7 Jul. 1908, Rapport sur le cours complémentaire, année scolaire 1907–1908.

38 Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 398–400.

39 See, for example, ANS 1G3, Dakar, 22 Mar. 1905, M. Melou, Directeur de l’école de Dakar, to M. l'Inspecteur; ANS J19, Saint-Louis, 10 May 1910.

40 The General Council had twenty members. In 1909, there were three black, at least eight métis, and at least seven white members. The two remaining members may have been métis or French.

41 Johnson, Emergence, 117–19. As noted above, Hyacinthe wrote a letter in 1904 protesting the exclusion of two children from a Saint-Louis school. He had also participated vocally in many discussions of education in previous General Council sessions. On this debate, see also Bouche, ‘L'Enseignement’, II, 604–5.

42 Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 204–5.

43 Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 213, 215, 229, 234; Johnson, Emergence, 118. The resolution required a majority to pass, and 16 members were present.

44 Sénégal et Dépendances, 1909, 206–7.

45 Ibid. 208, 211.

46 Ibid. 212.

47 Ibid. 212–13.

48 Ibid. 214–16.

49 Ibid. 215, 226.

50 Ibid. 234. See also ANS J19, Saint-Louis, 4 Mar. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal to gouverneur général.

51 ANS J19, Saint-Louis, 4 Mar. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal to gouverneur général.

52 Zuccarelli, F., La vie politique sénégalaise (1789–1940), I (Paris, 1987), 96Google Scholar; H. Jones, ‘Citizens and subjects: métis society, identity and the struggle over colonial politics in Saint Louis, Senegal, 1870–1920’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Michigan State University, 2003), 224.

53 ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 19 Feb. 1910, Calvayrac to chef du service de l'enseignement; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 23 Feb. 1910, Couraud: Rapport adressé a Monsieur le chef du service de l'enseignement; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 24 Feb. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to Maire de Saint-Louis; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 25 Feb. 1910, Devès to gouverneur; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 28 Feb. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to Maire; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 16 Apr. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to gouverneur général.

54 ANS 2G7/37, Sénégal: Service de l'Enseignement. Rapport Annuel, 1907.

55 ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 16 Apr. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to gouverneur général.

56 Johnson, Emergence, 116–21; Zuccarelli, La Vie, 89–96. For more on the Devès family, see: Manchuelle, F., ‘Métis et colons: la famille Devès et l’émergence politique des Africains au Sénégal, 1881–1897’, Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 96:24–4 (1984), 477–504CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 ANS 3G3/5, Thiès, 9 Jul. 1910, déposition de Amadou Sega; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 20 Jul. 1910, Demba Niagna, laptot in Saint-Louis to gouverneur-Sénégal; ANS 3G3/6, Extrait de la Délibération du Conseil Municipal, 26 Aug. 1916; Jones, ‘Citizens’, 198, 204–6. After a brief investigation into Devès's public life, the new administration rejected the monument proposal.

58 ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 30 May 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to gouverneur général; ANS 3G3/5, Saint-Louis, 4 Jun. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to gouverneur général; ANS 3G3/5, télégramme, Saint-Louis, 15 Jul. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur to gouverneur; ANS 3G3/5, télégramme, 22 Sep. 1910, Colonies Paris to gouverneur général; ANS 2G10/12, Saint-Louis, 18 May 1911, lieutenant gouverneur Sénégal to gouverneur général: Rapport sur la situation politique et administrative de la colonie du Sénégal pendant l'année 1910; ANS 2G11/6, Sénégal: Situation Politique, Territoires d'Administration Directe, 1911; ANS 3G3/6, Saint-Louis, 24 Jun. 1917, lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal to gouverneur général; Johnson, Emergence, 121; Zuccarelli, La Vie, 96; Jones, ‘Citizens’, 224–6.

59 ANS J19, Saint-Louis, 16 Apr. 1910, lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal to gouverneur général.

60 Ibid. See also ANS J19, Saint-Louis, 10 May 1910, lieutenant gouverneur du Sénégal to gouverneur général; d'Anfreville, Notre, 116–119. Right after the school closing, many European students began attending the Ecole Brière de l'Isle and some went to the Ecole Duval, both in Saint-Louis. ANS 2G10/12(4), Service de l'Enseignement, Rapport Annuel, 1910.

61 ANS 2G10/12(4), Service de l'Enseignement, Rapport Annuel, 1910.

62 ANS J13, 30 Jan. 1913, Arrêté réorganisant le service de l'enseignement au Sénégal; ANS J13, nd [1913], Note à M. le lieutenant gouverneur.

63 ANS J13, 27 May 1913, Extrait du Procès-Verbal du Conseil Municipal de Saint-Louis.

64 ANS J13, nd [1913], Errata [to the 30 Jan. 1913 arrêté]; Bouche, ‘Enseignement,’ II, 637–8.

65 Hardy, Une conquête, vii–xi, 69.

66 Gifford and Weiskel, ‘African’, 690–4.

67 Zachernuk, P. S., Colonial Subjects: An African Intelligentsia and Atlantic Ideas (Charlottesville, 2000), 56–61Google Scholar, chap. 4. See also Abernethy, D. B., The Political Dilemma of Popular Education: An African Case (Stanford, 1969), 72–3Google Scholar, 89–90.

68 Summers, Colonial, 59–69. In western Kenya during the 1930s, elders from Maragoli made similar demands for a school that would provide their sons with a literary education. See Mutongi, K., Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya (Chicago, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, chap. 8.

69 Stoler, A. L., Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule (Berkeley, 2002)Google Scholar, chaps. 1 and 5.

70 Johnson, Emergence, 118, 146–7, 165–70. The Blaise Diagne laws of 1915 and 1916 settled the question of citizenship for residents of the Communes, allowing them to serve in the regular French army and recognizing them as French citizens.

71 Cooper, F., Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present (Cambridge, 2002), 40–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cooper, F., ‘Possibility and constraint: African independence in historical perspective’, Journal of African History, 49 (2008), 174–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.