The Old Man and the Medal (Le vieux nègre et la médaille) is a 1956 postcolonial novel by Cameroonian diplomat and writer Ferdinand Oyono.^[1]

The novel was translated into English by John Reed in 1967 and republished in 1969 in the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.

Meka, the main character, is an elderly villager who receives a medal from the French government for the donatation of land for a church, but also his two sons who are killed during the World War II. ^[2]

The novel depicts the problematic relationship between loyal Africans, and their colonial masters.^[2][3][4]

• Oyono, Ferdinand (1956). Le vieux nègre et la médaille (in French). Paris: 10/18. ISBN 978-2-264-00962-3.
• Oyono, F.; Reed, J. (2013). The Old Man and the Medal. Translated by Reed, John. Waveland Press. ISBN 978-1-4786-1109-7. Retrieved 2024-04-09.