Frantz Fanon

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Frantz Fanon

Born July 20, 1925
Martinique, French Antilles
Died December 6, 1961
Bethesda, Maryland

Psychiatrist, philosopher, political revolutionary, and author

Frantz Fanon (pronounced Fah-NAWN) grew up in the French-colonized island of Martinique. (Colonialism is the policy by which one nation exerts control over another nation or territory.) After serving in World War II (1939–45), he studied medicine in France. As a psychiatrist, Fanon analyzed the impact of racism and colonialism on colonized people—topics with which he was well familiar.

While working in a government hospital in the French colony of Algeria, in Africa, Fanon became involved with the Algerian independence movement. He came to the conclusion that the only salvation of colonized people was to overthrow their colonizers in violent revolutions. As Fanon explained in his book The Wretched of the Earth, a new, just society would rise from the ashes of the old one. Fanon’s philosophy was eagerly embraced by Africans and African Americans—people who were victims of colonialism and racism and were hungry for liberation.

Early lessons in racism

Fanon was born on July 20, 1925, to middle-class parents on the French-protectorate island of Martinique. (Martinique is part of the French Antilles—the chain of islands in the Caribbean stretching from Puerto Rico to the northeastern tip of Venezuela.) Fanon was the descendent of slaves brought to the Antilles from Africa.

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