French governor argued Africans must be forced to progress against their will

Evidence

Interim governor general for both AEF and AOF from 1918 to 1919, he had made a name for himself between 1908 and 1916 as “pacifier” and “developer” of Ivory Coast. At that time, Angoulvant had successfully defeated the local Baule population, who resisted French rule. He also became infamous in colonial circles for his outspoken belief that the French had to force Africans to grow certain cash crops, in order to help the local populations progress. To implement such a policy, he said: … We must completely modify the black mentality in order to be understood … Let us be honest: at present, the native is still detached from our institutions … For a long time yet, it will thus be necessary for our subjects to be brought to progress against their will … The role of the administration is a particular one … It will involve the special intervention of our authority: we shall exercise this authority in essence to make Africans work, a notion they do not [yet] have. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 752

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Illustrates how the ‘civilizing mission’ logic authorized coercive labor as moral necessity — core to the reader’s inquiry into republican empire.