''Black Orpheus'' was a

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

-based literary journal founded in 1957 by German expatriate editor and scholar Ulli Beier that has been described as "a powerful catalyst for artistic awakening throughout West Africa".Kate Tuttle
"Black Orpheus"
in Anthony Appiah and

Henry Louis Gates Jr Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Ame ...

(eds), ''Encyclopedia of Africa, Volume 1'', Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 189. Its name derived from a 1948 essay by

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...

, "Orphée Noir", published as a preface to ''Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache'', edited by

Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor (; ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80). Ideologically an African socialist, he was the major theoretician o ...

. Beier wrote in an editorial statement in the inaugural volume that "it is still possible for a Nigerian child to leave a secondary school with a thorough knowledge of English literature, but without even having heard of Léopold Sédar Senghor or

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the Par ...

", so ''Black Orpheus'' became a platform for Francophone as well as Anglophone writers.Quoted in Mark Wollaeger with Matt Eatough
''The Oxford Handbook of Global Modernisms''
Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 276. The

Congress for Cultural Freedom The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist advocacy group founded in 1950. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the CIA was instrumental in the establishment and funding of the ...

, a front group set up by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, was a funder of the magazine.

History

''Black Orpheus'' was "a journal of African and Afro-American literature" established in 1957 by university professor Ulli Beier. It was produced in

Ibadan, Nigeria Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

, and was groundbreaking as the first African literary periodical in English, publishing poetry, art, fiction, literary criticism, and commentary."Cover of Black Orpheus"
Collection items from '' West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song'', British Library. Its editors included

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

and

Es'kia Mphahlele Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature. He was given the ...

(1960–64). Characterised by its

pan-African Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement ext ...

reach, ''Black Orpheus'' also published in English translation the work of Francophone writers, among them

Léopold Senghor Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

, Camara Laye,

, and Hampâté Bâ, as well as playing a significant role in the careers of such notable authors and artists as

, John Pepper Clark,

Gabriel Okara Gabriel Imomotimi Okara (24 April 1921 – 25 March 2019) was a Nigerian poet and novelist who was born in Bumoundi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The first modernist poet of Anglophone Africa, he is best known for his early experimental ...

Dennis Brutus Dennis Vincent Brutus (28 November 1924 – 26 December 2009) was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games due to its racial policy of apartheid. ...

Kofi Awoonor Kofi Awoonor (born George Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor-Williams; 13 March 1935 – 21 September 2013) was a Ghanaian poet and author whose work combined the poetic traditions of his native Ewe people and contemporary and religious symbolism to depict A ...

, Andrew Salkey,

Léon Damas Léon-Gontran Damas (March 28, 1912 – January 22, 1978) was a French poet and politician. He was one of the founders of the Négritude movement. He also used the pseudonym Lionel Georges André Cabassou. Biography Léon Damas was born in Ca ...

Ama Ata Aidoo Ama Ata Aidoo, ''née'' Christina Ama Aidoo (born 23 March 1942) is a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic. She was the Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation t ...

, Cyprian Ekwensi,

Alex La Guma Alex La Guma (20 February 1924 – 11 October 1985) was a South African novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO) and a defendant in the Treason Trial, whose works helped characterise the movement against ...

Bloke Modisane William Modisane (28 August 1923 – 1 March 1986), better known as Bloke Modisane, was a South African writer, actor and journalist. Biography William "Bloke" Modisane, the eldest son of Joseph and Ma-Willie Modisane,Nelly E Sonderling (e ...

Birago Diop Birago Diop (11 December 1906 – 25 November 1989) was a Senegalese poet and storyteller whose work restored general interest in African folktales and promoted him to one of the most outstanding African francophone writers.D. O. Fagunwa,

Wilson Harris Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (24 March 1921 – 8 March 2018) was a Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and his sub ...

, Valente Malangatana, and Ibrahim el-Salahi. Many of them featured in a 1964 anthology edited by Beier, ''Black Orpheus: An Anthology of New African and Afro-American Stories'', which was published in Lagos, London, Toronto, and New York. ''Black Orpheus'' was highly influential;

Abiola Irele Francis Abiola Irele (commonly Abiola Irele, 22 May 1936 – 2 July 2017) was a Nigerian academic best known as the doyen of Africanist literary scholars worldwide. He was Provost at Kwara State University, founded in 2009 in Ilorin, Nigeria. Befo ...

– the magazine's editor from 1968 – wrote in the ''

Journal of Modern African Studies The ''Journal of Modern African Studies'' is a quarterly academic journal of African studies covering developments in modern African politics and society. Its main emphasis is on current issues in African politics, economies, societies, and inter ...

'': "The steady development of ''Black Orpheus'' over the last seven years amounts to a remarkable achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the vicious circle that seems to inhibit the development of a proper reading public by its continued existence, by its very availability; more than that, it has also gone on to establish itself as one of the most important formative influences in modern African literature.…It can be said, without much exaggeration, that the founding of ''Black Orpheus'', if it did not directly inspire new writing in English-speaking Africa, at least coincided with the first promptings of a new, modern, literary expression and re-inforced it by keeping before the potential writer the example of the achievements of the French-speaking and Negro American writers."Dele Meiji Fatunla
"Three African and African Diasporan Literary Magazines the Everyone Should Know"
What's On Africa, Royal African Society, 30 June 2015. Beier also founded the Mbari Club, in 1961, a cultural hub for African writers that was closely connected with ''Black Orpheus'', and during the 1960s also acted as a publisher — considered to be the only African-based publisher of African literature at the time — producing 17 titles by African writers. Having earned a reputation as "the doyen of African literary magazines",Wollaeger and Eatough
''The Oxford Handbook of Global Modernisms''
2012, p. 280. ''Black Orpheus'' eventually ceased publication in 1975.

History

See also

References

Further reading