Growing up in Senegal, Mohammed Wade learned all about French politicians, like Gen. Charles de Gaulle, in school.

So this spring, when he found out that the Dakar thoroughfare where he runs his family’s jewelry shop was being renamed Boulevard Mamadou Dia, he admits that his first reaction was, “Who?”

“We learn very little about our own history,” says Mr. Wade, pulling a silver bracelet from a glass case. Mr. Dia, the first prime minister after Senegal won its independence, wasn’t in the curriculum. “Instead, we learn about French history, French politicians. And it’s always portraying them in a positive light.”

Why We Wrote This

France and its former African colonies have a relationship so tight it has its own portmanteau: Françafrique. But many in Senegal, from baguette makers to fa

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