Massillon Coicou, poet and diplomat, was born 159 years ago.

Teacher and Poet

He studied at the Christian Instruction Brothers and then at the National Lyceum. After his military service during President Florvil Hyppolite's term, he taught at the National Lyceum while also writing.

In 1892, he published Poésies nationales, a collection that criticized Haitian society while celebrating love, homeland, and independence heroes. The following year, he presented the play L'Oracle. Romantic and nationalist, he aligned himself with the post-romantic movement, like Oswald Durand.

Posted in Paris

President Tirésias Simon Sam appointed him secretary at Haiti's legation in Paris, then chargé d'affaires. In France, he frequented literary, political, and intellectual circles and published several of his works there.

Died for His Ideas

Upon returning home, he took up arms against the government of Pierre Nord Alexis, which suppressed Anténor Firmin's opposition. Captured along with his two brothers, he was executed on the orders of the president on March 15, 1908, in front of the walls of Port-au-Prince Cemetery. According to tradition, his death inspired Guillaume Apollinaire's The Assassinated Poet (1916).