12 Facts About Jacques Rabemananjara

Jacques Rabemananjara was a Malagasy politician, playwright and poet.

Jacques Rabemananjara served as a government minister, rising to Vice President of Madagascar.

Jacques Rabemananjara was born in Maroantsetra in Antongil Bay in eastern Madagascar on 23 June 1913, of Betsimisarakan origin.

Jacques Rabemananjara began his education on the island of Sainte Marie, but soon left to finish his studies at the seminary at Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.

Jacques Rabemananjara had been removed by the French colonial powers in 1897.

Jacques Rabemananjara published his play Les dieux malgaches, the first modern Malagasy play in French, This play dealt with the pre-colonial past and with the coup that unseated King Radama II in 1863.

Jacques Rabemananjara was elected to represent the Tamatave region in 1946 as the third member of the National Assembly from Madagascar.

Jacques Rabemananjara was suspected of being involved in the instigation of the 1947 Malagasy Uprising, despite the fact that he had urged the rioters to be calm.

Jacques Rabemananjara was arrested, and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour.

Jacques Rabemananjara's freedom allowed him to attend the first International Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris.

Jacques Rabemananjara was one of the main speakers and earned a place at the top table of this important conference, which was funded by UNESCO and was still celebrated 50 years later.

Jacques Rabemananjara was exiled in France until Madagascar's independence in 1960.