In the summer of 1935, a black student writes the first lines of 'Cahier d'un retour au pays natal'. Aimé Césaire did not know it yet, but he was writing a masterpiece of literature. In his poems as well as in his plays, the Antillean is a champion of his culture: he claims the black culture free of racist clichés and Western values. He takes a stand in his works against slavery and colonization. But the poet is also a man of action who will soon engage in politics.