Harrison Forman Diary, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, April 1961

In this diary, Harrison Forman, photographer and journalist, documents his trip to West Africa. He begins the trip in Senegal, shortly after they declared independence along with Mali and Côte d’Iviore (Ivory Coast) in September, 1960. Forman describes the impoverished West African countries and their resentment of the French. While in Dakar, Mali, Forman describes the people and way of life. He comments on the lack of industry, local shops, road conditions and transportation, and newly built government buildings. Forman notes the primary Muslim population and witnesses the importance of prayer time. He then flies to Bamako, the "heart of the French Sudan," he comments on aid from Russia that was spent on trucks allowing people to travel the difficult roads. Forman talks about gas and oil shortages, and his perception that the Malian government distrustful and incapable of negotiating aid from other countries or foreign companies. In Tombouctou (Timbuktu), Forman describes life The diaries are part of the Harrison Forman Papers 1931-1974 housed at the Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. UWM Libraries received the dairies on a loan from the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Oregon Libraries and digitized them to accompany the digital collection of Forman's photographs. The diaries were digitized to provide research materials for the Forman's negatives scanned as part of the NEH grant project "Saving and Sharing the AGS Library's Historic Nitrate Negative Images."