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Prayer to the Masks Author Biography

Senghor was born in Joal, a village in Central Senegal, in 1906. His father was a successful merchant dealing with the French in goods for the export trade. After one year of elementary education in Joal, he was sent to a missionary school in Ngasobil and a Catholic high school in Dakar, where he was educated in the French language and French culture. Although he had originally wanted to enter the priesthood, Senghor was sent on scholarship to France in 1928, where he pursued the study of literature at the Lycée Louis le Grand and the Sorbonne. In the preparatory class at the lycée, Senghor befriended his classmate Georges Pompidou, who later became president of France. Senghor earned the License-ès-lettres (equivalent to a bachelor's degree), the Diplôme d'études supérieures (equivalent to the master's), and the agrégation (like a Ph.D.). He was the first African from the French colonies to earn...
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