Devoting one’s life to the freeing of an oppressed people must include some precursor that would make this avenue the most desirable one to follow. Being born on a Carribean island claimed by the French, Martinique, Frantz Fanon’s familial background consists of a lineage descended from former slaves and illegitimate, mixed births. The climate in which Fanon found himself growing up, though, didn’t dissuade him from harboring some nationalistic impulses towards France. And after the German occupation began and as portions of the French Navy was ostensibly stuck on Martinique raping, stealing and otherwise violating the human rights of the native peoples, Fanon saw fit to join the Free French Forces. Read more
