Jane Léro

Jane Marie Apolinaire Léro (also Jeanne Léro; born February 8, 1916, Le Lamentin, Martinique – July 17, 1961, Martinique) was a feminist and communist activist from Martinique.

Biography

She was born the fifth child in a family that would eventually grow to eight children.^[1] Her parents had a small mercantile business.^[2] She studied at the colonial boarding school (Pensionnat Colonial) for girls in Fort-de-France before continuing onto the lycée Schoelcher; at the time, it was unusual for a female student to choose this secondary school because it specialized in math and science.^[3] Léro earned the highest honors for her work in mathematics and received her baccalauréat in math in 1937 or 1938.^[3][4]

Because of her gender, she was unable to travel to France as a youth to receive higher education, like two of her brothers.^[1][3] Her brothers Thélus and Etienne contributed to the radical Martiniquais student journal Légitime Défense while they were both students in Paris in the 1930s.^[5]

Léro opened a small store that became a meeting spot for politically active Martinicans. She began to read the literary magazine Tropiques, in which authors such as Aimé Césaire advanced new theorizations of colonization, politics, and race.^[3]

Activism

Léro joined the Communist Party in 1943.^[3] In 1944, the first election in which Martiniquais women were able to vote, she organized electoral campaigns and participated in conferences.^[3] She also wrote articles for the party's magazine Justice.^[3]

In June 1944, Léro led the foundation of the Union des Femmes de la Martinique (l'UFM; Union of Women of Martinique) at the behest of the Communist Party.^[1][6][7] Her sister-in-law Yva Léro was also a founding member.^[8][5] The feminist organization brought together communists and democrats and fought for causes such as social security, healthcare, education, and nutrition.^[8][5][9] It was radical in its critique of socioeconomic inequality and provided many social services for women ignored or underserved by the French government.^[5] Health care was a main focus.^[10] Voting was also central to its mission.^[11] She served as its president until 1947 or 1949, when she departed for France to pursue higher education in social work.^[1][3][8] Léro earned a degree in social work in Paris in 1951 and worked in France for several years.^[3]

Léro returned to Martinique in 1956 to organize social services in the department of Fort-de-France as a government employee.^[3] The political landscape had changed, and she was torn between allegiance to the communist party and her friendship with the Césaires.^[3]

She died in 1961; her cause of death remains unclear.^[3]

Honors

Her life and work have been re-centered in Martiniquais history beginning in the early 2000s. She has become the subject of the work of scholars such as Clara Palmiste, Cécile Celma, and Annette Joseph-Gabriel.^{[12][13][14][15]}

The domestic violence response center of the Union of Women of Martinique in Fort-de-France was renamed the "Jane Léro Building" in 2002.^[5][6]

Further reading

• Podcast with Cécile Celma on Jane Léro's biography

References

1. "Jane Léro". Culture Egalité (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
2. Pago, Gilberto (2000). "Ses amis". Banque Numérique des Patrimoines Martiniquais. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
3. Pancarte, Camille (August 6, 2021). "Jane Léro co-fondatrice de l'UFM (1916 – 1961)". Union des Femmes de la Martinique (in French). Retrieved April 26, 2022.
4. Charles-Alfred, Chantal (2022-02-16). "Jane Léro". Outremer Memory (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-27.
5. Joseph-Gabriel, Annette (2017-06-16). "Nyansapo: Black Feminism and the French Republic". AAIHS. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
6. Bonheur, Rita (2018-12-11). "Témoignage : Femmes, discriminations et violences : l'expérience militante de l'Union des Femmes de Martinique". Archipelies. Electronic ISSN 2777-5909 (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-27.
7. "Jane Léro". Black Women Radicals. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
8. Solange, Fitte-Duval. . Banque Numérique des Patrimoines Martiniquais (in French). Archived from the original on 2021-03-05.
9. "L'Union des Femmes de Martinique, Lyannaj pou fanm doubout !". EWAG Média (in French). 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
10. Germain, Félix (2018-10-01). "French Caribbean Feminism". In Germain, Félix; Larcher, Silyane (eds.). Black French Women and the Struggle for Equality, 1848-2016. University of Nebraska Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4962-1037-1.
11. Shaw, Susan M.; Barbour, Nancy Staton; Ph.D, Patti Duncan; Freehling-Burton, Kryn; Nichols, Jane (2018-01-04). "French Caribbean". Women's Lives around the World: A Global Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-61069-712-5.
12. Palmiste, Clara (2016). "Jane Léro, militante féministe et communiste". Portail Médiathèques de la Martinique (in French). Retrieved April 26, 2022.
13. John, Kesewa (2020-10-09). "Public Thinker: Annette Joseph-Gabriel on Black Women, Frenchness, and Decolonization". Public Books. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
14. "Guadeloupe. Féminisme et militantisme". CCN - Caraib Creole News / L'actualité de Guadeloupe, Martinique et de la Caraïbe (in French). 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
15. Joseph-Gabriel, Annette (2018-10-01). "Gerty Archimède and the Struggle for Decolonial Citizenship in the French Antiles, 1946-1951". In Germain, Felix; Larcher, Silyane (eds.). Black French Women and the Struggle for Equality, 1848-2016. University of Nebraska Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4962-1037-1.