Jane Nardal

Jeanne "Jane" Nardal (1900 – 1993) was a French writer, philosopher, teacher, and political commentator from Martinique. She and her sister, Paulette Nardal, are considered to have laid the theoretical and philosophical groundwork of the Négritude movement, a cultural, political, and literary movement, which first emerged in 1930s, Paris and sought to unite Black intellectuals in the current and former French colonies. The term "Négritude" itself was coined by Martiniquan writer-activist Aimé Césaire, one of the three individuals formally recognized as the "fathers" of the cultural movement, along with Senegalese poet Léopold Senghor and French Guianese writer Léon Damas. It was not until relatively recently, however, that the women involved in the Négritude movement, including Jane and Paulette Nardal, began to receive the recognition they were due.

Ancestry The Nardal's great-grandmother, Sidonie Nardal, was born into slavery in the region of Trinité, Martinique, best known at the time for its sugar production. She was recognized as a free person in 1850, two years after slavery was officially abolished throughout the French empire. Sidonie had five children; her son Joachim, Jane and Paulette's grandfather, was not registered as a free person until 1854. Joachim Nardal would eventually move to the capital of Saint-Pierre and go on to have two children: Marie-Hélène (born in 1861) and Paul Nardal (born in 1867), the Nardal sisters' father. The latter would eventually become the first black man after the abolition of slavery to earn a fellowship to attend l’École des Arts et Métiers (School of Arts and Careers) in Paris. He would eventually become the first black engineer to work for the Department of Public Works and also worked as a teacher training future engineers.

Early family life Jane Nardal was the fourth of seven daughters (Paulette, Emilie, Alice, Lucy, Cécile, Andrée) born to Paul Nardal, a Black engineer, and Louise Achille, a métisse (mixed) schoolteacher, prominent musician, and organizer. Paul and Louise instilled in their daughters a commitment to education and the arts. Though all of their children would grow up to become successful, well-educated women, Paulette and, to a lesser extent, Jane were most well known for their writings and political commentary. Over the course of their time in Paris, Paulette and Jane kept a Sunday literary salon where young Black intellectuals – including Césaire, Senghor and Damas, as well as African-American and West Indian scholars – met on a weekly basis to exchange theories and build a foundation for a budding race consciousness that would be influential throughout the Black diaspora. Paulette in particular acted as a point of contact between French-speaking Caribbean and African intellectuals and African-Americans scholars and musicians. the official bimonthly newspaper of the Comité de défense des intérêts de la race noire (Committee for the Defense of the Interests of the Black Race).