Frantz Fanon

Born 20 July 1925 in Martinique, then a French colony, Fanon trained as a psychiatrist and developed models for community-based mental health care, working at Saint-Alban where he helped found institutional psychotherapy. His clinical work led him to theorize the psychopathology of colonization - how empire damages minds on both sides of the power line. During the Algerian War of independence he joined the National Liberation Front, supporting the fight against France while practicing medicine. He dictated his writings to his wife Josie, who transcribed, edited, and sometimes contributed to the work he rarely wrote by hand. He died 6 December 1961, but for over five decades his ideas have moved freedom movements in South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the United States.