This is his portray as a young man. And yes - the greatest Russian poet Alexander Pushkin is of African descent.
Alexander Pushkin's great-grandfather was black. His name was Abram Gannibal, an Afro-Russian noble, military engineer and general under the famous Russian czar Peter the Great.
Abram Gannibal was brought as a child slave from what is now Cameroon and gifted to the Russian czar Peter the Great - who came to love the child, raised him as a son and godson, gave him a title of nobility, and got him married into a family of Russian nobility to give him a future in a patriarchal country.
I did not see much of public celebration of his heritage in the U.S., or of his contribution to the world literature.
It may be attributed to the fact that Pushkin wrote in rhymed verse - in Russian, of course - and, as any translator knows, to translate verse, the translator him/herself needs to be a gifted poet, writing also in rhymed verse.
It has been noted by observers, most recently, yesterday, by BBC (the article is in Russian, I will strive to find the English version), that poor translations of Pushkin resulted in misunderstanding of his works by readers in other languages, that, while the West "expects" from Russian literature to be philosophizing and discussing existential issues, Pushkin's verse is intimate and delicate - and, I must add, that is true even though Pushkin touched upon in his verse and prose deep philosophical issues, and described historical events.
Pushkin, I must say, was also a rebel against religious dogma and zealotry. His "Gabrieliad", written when he was 22 (he was fatally injured at a duel at 37) is openly mocking the concept of immaculate conception. Even though Pushkin denied authorship of "Gabrieliad" during his lifetime, scholars analyzing his works - as well as any reader who knows Pushkin's style - will find it difficult to believe that anybody else wrote that poem.
In Russia, every child remembers as bedtime reading - for 2 centuries so far - Pushkin's fairy tales.
Pushkin's romantic verses are famous, as well as his "Little tragedies" cycle and his historical prose:
"The Captain's daughter" - a novel about the uprising of Emelyan Pougachiov against the just-enthroned empress Catherine The Great and
"Peter The Great's Negro" ("Арап Петра Великого") - before accusing me, please, note that the book was written in the 18th century, and that I cannot change its title.
His two poems in verses were turned into operas - "Eugene Onegin", music by Piotr Chaikovsky, and "Ruslan and Ludmila", music by Mikhail Glinka.
Pushkin is part of the world literature, the founder of the Russian literature, and surely a Goliath of the African heritage literature, and it is a shame his anniversary was not noted, nor his literary heritage celebrated in this country on his birthday yesterday.
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