Andrée Blouin

Andrée Blouin (December 16, 1921-1986) was an activist and writer from the Central African Republic.
The daughter of Josephine Wouassimba, a Banziri woman, and Pierre Gerbillat, a French businessman, she was born in Bessou, a village in Oubangui-Chari (later the Central African Republic). She was placed in an orphanage for girls of mixed race, only reconnecting with her parents as an adult. She ran away at the age of 17. In the 1950s, she went to Guinea, where she joined Sékou Touré. She returned to Central Africa and mobilized women for the Parti Solidaire Africain. She became chief of protocol in Patrice Lumumba's government. She was expelled from the Congo just before Lumumba was executed. She continued to work for social equality and economic justice in various African countries.

Selected works

• My Country, Africa. Autobiography of the Black pasionaria, autobiography with Jean MacKellar (1983)