Léopold Sédar Senghor (/sɒŋˈɡɔːr/ song-GOR, French: [leɔpɔl sedaʁ sɑ̃ɡɔʁ], Wolof: Léwopóol Sedaar Seŋoor; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980.
Ideologically an African socialist, Senghor was one of the major theoreticians of Négritude. He was a proponent of African culture, black identity, and African empowerment within the framework of French-African ties. He advocated for the extension of full civil and political rights for France's African territories while arguing that French Africans would be better off within a federal French structure than as independent nation-states.