Blaise Diagne (13 October 1872 – 11 May 1934) was a Senegalese and French political leader and mayor of Dakar. He was the first person of West African origin elected to the French Chamber of Deputies, and the first to hold a position in the French government. Background Born in Gorée to a Senegalese Lebu father—Niokhor Diagne—a cook and sailor, and a Manjack mother of Guinea-Bissau origin—Gnagna Anthony Preira. Diagne was adopted as a child by the Crespin family who were of mixed race origin from Gorée and St. Louis, and Christians. They baptised him as "Blaise". He studied in France before joining the French customs service in 1892. He served in Dahomey (modern day Benin), French Congo (now 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. Political career Diagne was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of France in 1914 as the representative for the Four Communes. During World War I, Diagne helped the French to conscript Senegalese citizens into the regular French Army. The Four Communes were subsequently ensured citizenship status in France. He was reelected several times, serving until his death in 1934. From 1914 to 1917 he caucused 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 after recently becoming the newly elected deputy of Senegal, Blaise Diagne was critical in the government intervention in an outbreak of plague which struck Dakar. In 1916 Diagne convinced the French parliament to approve a law () granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes in Senegal: Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis, and Rufisque. This extension of citizenship occurred during World War I when the French needed to recruit its African population into the military. As part of Diagne's deal with the French to grant citizenship, he helped them organize military recruitment in Senegal. This measure constituted a considerable element of the French colonial policy of a "civilizing mission" (). He was 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 the war, Diagne embarked on an administrative career in addition to his responsibilities as a parliamentary deputy. From October 1918 to January 1920 he