Blaise Diagne -- Senegal
Blaise Diagne was a French political leader, the 
first black African elected to the French National Assembly, and mayor of Dakar.
From a Serer father and a Manjack mother originating in Guinea-Bissau, Diagne was born in Gorée, Senegal and studied in France before joining the French customs service in 1892. As a customs agent, Diagne was assigned throughout the French colonies. He served in Dahomey (modern day Benin), French Congo (Republic of the Congo), Réunion, Madagascar, and French Guiana. In September 1899, while in Réunion, Diagne became a freemason, joining a lodge affiliated with the Grand Orient de France. After leaving the the customs service he became involved in politics and was elected to the French national parliament in 1914 as Senegal's representative.
He was re-elected several times, serving until his death in 1934. From 1914 to 1917 he held meetings with the Marxist-socialist Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, forerunner of the French Socialist Party, before affiliating with the Independents led by Georges Mandel. In 1914 as the newly elected deputy of Senegal, Blaise Diagne was critical of the government intervention in an outbreak of plague which struck Dakar. In 1916 Diagne convinced the French parliament to approve a law (Loi "Blaise Diagne") granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes in Senegal: Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis, and Rufisque. This measure constituted a considerable element of the French colonial policy of a "civilising mission".
French Prime Minister Clémenceau nominated Diagne to be General Governor for recruitment of soldiers in French West Africa. After negotiating guaranties for soldier’s conditions he accepted the post and became a leading recruiter for the French army during World War I, when thousands of black West Africans fought on the Western Front for France. After World War I, Diagne embarked on an administrative career in addition to his responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy. From October 1918 to January 1920 he served as Commissioner General of the Ministry of Colonies with supervision of military personnel from the colonies and workers from France's African possessions. He represented France in the International Labour Office, the secretariat of the International Labour Organization, in 1930. From January 1931 to February 1932 he was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a junior level cabinet position. From 1920 to 1934 he served as mayor of Dakar.
He was a pioneer of black African electoral politics and an advocate of equal rights for all, regardless of race. He encouraged African accommodation of French rule and the adoption of French cultural and social norms. In the later years African colonial politics had passed him by and he continued to advocate an African role in France while most Western-educated African elites embraced African nationalism and worked or fought for independence from colonial powers.
He died in Cambo-les-Bains in 1934 and it is alleged that he was not buried in the Muslim cemetery of Soumbedioune in Dakar because of his freemasonry.
However, Avenue Blaise Diagne and the school Lycée Blaise Diagne in Dakar were named in his honor, along with Senegal's new Blaise Diagne Airport in Ndiass, outside Dakar.
His son Raoul was the first black professional footballer in France and had great success playing for Racing Club de France in the late 1930s, winning the French title in 1936 and the French cup in 1936, 1939, and 1940.