<p>M&aacute;rio Domingues, a mulatto from S. Tom&eacute; who was brought to Portugal at the age of eighteen months, did his studies in Lisbon and entered the journalistic, political and literary field from a very early age. At seventeen he published his first fiction, at nineteen his signature began to appear frequently on news reports and stories in a daily newspaper in Lisbon (A Batalha), and he soon became a professional journalist, eventually becoming chief editor and director of several newspapers. </p><p>As a journalist and political activist he was, already in the 1920s, the only voice explicitly calling for the independence of the colonies. This reflected the emergence of a school of thought favouring not only the liberation of black people but also of all those living under colonial regimes. In numerous articles, M&aacute;rio Domingues dismantled the colonialist ideology, exposed the roots of the colonial system, condemned the excesses of the slave-like exploitation of black people and argued for African separatism and independence.&nbsp; Drawing on concrete examples of Portuguese colonialism, knowledge of which he obtained through the special relationship he had with militant black organizations, he criticized the republic's colonial legislation and the ideological principles on which it was based, defending the ideal of black emancipation in his outline of the struggle for independence.</p><p>M&aacute;rio Domingues decided to live off his writings alone. This meant he was obliged to adopt various foreign pseudonyms, with which he authored over a hundred novels. He also wrote a number of History books and articles of art criticism.</p>