Felix Eboue

Biography

Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, the grandson of slaves, Felix was the fourth of a family of five brothers. His father, Yves Urbain Eboue, was an orator, and his mother, Marie Josephine Aurelie Leveille, was a shop owner born in Roura. She raised her sons in the Guiana Creole tradition.

Eboue won a scholarship to study at secondary school in Bordeaux. Eboue was also a keen footballer, captaining his school team when they travelled to games in both Belgium and England. He graduated in law from the Ecole nationale de la France d'Outre-mer (called Ecole coloniale for short), one of the grandes ecoles in Paris.

Career

Eboue served in colonial administration in Oubangui-Chari for twenty years, and then in Martinique. In 1936 he was appointed governor of Guadeloupe, the first man of black African descent to be appointed to such a senior post anywhere in the French colonies.

Two years later, with conflict on the horizon, he was transferred to Chad, arriving in Fort Lamy on 4 January 1939. He was instrumental in developing Chadian support for the Free French in 1940. This ultimately gave Charles de Gaulle's faction control of the rest of French Equatorial Africa.

Efforts at negritude

As governor of the whole area between 1940-1944, Eboue acted to improve the status of Africans. He classified 200 educated Africans as "notable evolues" and reduced their taxes, as well as placing some Gabonese civil servants into positions of authority. He also took an interest in the careers of individuals who would later become significant in their own rights, including Jean-Hilaire Aubame and Jean Remy Ayoune.

Although a Francophile who promoted the French language in Africa, Eboue advocated the preservation of traditional African institutions as well. This was included in his circular La nouvelle politique indigene ("New Native Policy"), put out 8 November 1941.

Personal life and death

He married Eugenie Tell. In 1946 one of their daughters, Ginette, married Leopold Sedar Senghor, the poet and future president of independent Senegal.

In 1922, he was initiated freemason at "La France Equinoxiale" lodge in Cayenne. During his life he frequented "Les Disciples de Pythagore" and "Maria Deraisme" lodges. He is considered to be the first freemason to have joined the Resistance. Eugenie his wife was initiated at Droit Humain in Martinique and his daughter Ginette at Grande Loge Feminine de France.

He died in 1944 of a heart attack while in Cairo. His ashes after cremation were placed in the Pantheon in Paris, where he was the first Black French man to be so honoured.

Legacy and honours

He was awarded an Officer of the Legion of Honour, decorated in 1941 with the Cross of the Liberation and was made a member of the Council of the Order of the Liberation.

In 1961, the Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique Equatoriale et du Cameroun (Central Bank of Equatorial African States and Cameroon) issued a 100-franc banknote featuring his portrait. The French colonies in Africa also brought out a joint stamp issue honouring his memory.

Within France, a street, Place Felix-Eboue, in 12th arrondissement of Paris was named for him, as is Paris Metro station Daumesnil, which also honours Felix Eboue. A primary school in Le Pecq bears his name and offers bilingual English/French education. A small street near La Defense was named for him.