LibGuides: Black History Month: African Independence and After

Leaders and Politicians

Idi Amin (1925-2003)

From An African Biographical Dictionary
One of the most notorious contemporary dictators in modern African history.
Ben Ali, Zine el Abidine
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Tunisian politician, president 1987–2011. He became prime minister in October 1987 and a month later deposed the president for life Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup.
Steve Biko (1947-1977)
From An African Biographical Dictionary
Steve Biko was the inspiration and intellectual leader of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and became its martyr.
Joseph Kwame Kyeretwi Boakye Danquah (1895-1965)
From An African Biographical Dictionary
Dr. Joseph Kwame Kyeretwi Boakye Danquah, a major nationalist figure and a leader of opposition during the presidency of Kwame Nkrumah, was also a scholar and intellectual.
Kenneth Kaunda (1924- ): Topic
Zambian politician, president 1964-91. Imprisoned 1958-60 as founder of the Zambia African National Congress, in 1964 he became the first president of independent Zambia.
Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978)
From An African Biographical Dictionary
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was the first president of Kenya and the leading figure in his country's independence movement.
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013): Topic
South African statesman; winner of the Nobel peace prize.
Thabo Mbeki (1942- ): Topic
1942–, South African political leader. Mbeki was Mandela's choice as his successor as leader of the ANC, and he became the country's second postapartheid president after the ANC's landslide win in 1999.
Hosni Mubarak (1928-2020): Topic
Egyptian soldier and politician, president from 1981. He was vice-president to Anwar Sadat from 1975 and became president on Sadat's assassination in October 2001.
Robert Mugabe (1924-2019): Topic
Zimbabwean politician, prime minister from 1980 and executive president from 1987.
Gamal Nasser (1918-1970): Topic
Egyptian army officer and political leader, first president of the republic of Egypt (1956–70). A pan-Arabist and advocate of Third-World unity, Nasser was one of the most important Arab leaders of the 20th century.
Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972): Topic
1909–72, African political leader, prime minister (1957–60) and president (1960–66) of Ghana. Under his leadership the Gold Coast achieved (1957) independence and, in 1960, became the Republic of Ghana.
Muammar Qaddafi (1942-2011): Topic
Libyan political leader. Blending Arab nationalism, revolutionary socialism, and Islamic orthodoxy, Qaddafi proceeded to run Libya's government as a stridently anti-Western dictatorship.
Anwar El-Sadat (1918-1981)
From Chambers Biographical Dictionary
Egyptian soldier, politician and Nobel Prize winner
Haile Selassie (1892-1975): Topic
Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–74). He was born Tafari Makonnen, the son of a noted general and the grandnephew of Emperor Menelik II.
Charles Taylor (1948- )
From The Encyclopedia of African History
21st president of the Republic of Liberia, plunged his country into a brutal seven-year civil war.

Cultural Figures

Chinua Achebe (1930-2013): Topic
1930–, Nigerian writer. In 2007 he was awarded the Man Booker International Prize.
Molefi Asante (1942- )
From Encyclopedia of African-American Writing
In the mid-1990s, Asante was enstooled as a king among the Akan of Ghana, partly in recognition for his work on Afrocentricity and for increasing our knowledge and awareness of the history and culture of Africa's people.He was bestowed the title Wanadoo of Gao in the Court of the Amiru Hassimi Maiga of Songhoy in 2012.
JM Coetzee (1940- ): Topic
Writer and critic, born in Cape Town, SW South Africa. The political situation in his native country provides him with the base from which to launch his allegories and fables, attacking colonialism and demythologizing historical and contemporary myths of imperialism.
Franz Fanon (1925-1961): Topic

Frantz Fanon is probably the most well-known activist and theorist of the anticolonial independence movements of the post–World War II period.
Pepé Kallé
In An African Biographical Dictionary
Pepé Kallé, one of the leading seminal figures in the soukous mainstream of Congolese popular dance music, was one of the few recording artists who refused to emigrate to Paris.
Fela Kuti (1938-1997)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Nigerian musician and political activist, b. Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, studied Trinity College of Music, London. He was the originator of Afrobeat, an amalgam of West African traditional and pop music with American pop, funk, jazz, and blues strains. A saxophone and keyboard player and a charismatic singer, Fela formed his first band in 1961, and in 1969 toured the United States, where he met and was strongly influenced by members of the Black Power movement. On his return to Nigeria, he became more socially concerned, and protested the cruelties of Nigeria's military dictatorship in his music.
Ousmane Sembene (1923-2007): Topic
Senegalese author and film director who wrote and made films in French and Wolof, often regarded as the father of sub-Saharan African cinema.
Wole Soyinka (1934- ): Topic
Writer, born near Abeokuta, SW Nigeria. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

Movements

Afrocentrism
From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
With the influence of Pan-Africanism in the early twentieth century, black intellectuals argued that African Americans are linked historically as well as culturally with people of color who are of African descent.
Arab Spring: Topic
The Arab Spring is the wave of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world, beginning in late 2010 and resulting in perhaps the most significant social change the region has seen in generations.
Black Consciousness Movement
From Encyclopedia of South Africa
The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) emerged in the mid-1960s in response to the political vacuum left by the banning and decimation of the major groups fighting apartheid, such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress.
Boko Haram: Topic
Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist militia. Boko Haram mounted its first attack in 2004, and since then the group has been responsible for thousands of deaths.
Decolonization: Topic
Gradual achievement of independence by former colonies of the European imperial powers, which began after World War I.
Islam in Postcolonial Africa
From Encyclopedia of African History
There are a number of versions of Islam extant in Africa, both north and south of the Sahara.
Mau Mau
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Militant Kikuyu-led nationalist movement of the 1950s in Kenya. The Mau Mau advocated violent resistance to British domination in Kenya. In response to actions by Mau Mau rebels, the British Kenya government banned the movement in 1950 and launched a series of military operations between 1952 and 1956.
Negritude
From Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity & Culture
The term ‘negritude’ was coined to emphasize the view that, apart from skin colour and other ‘Negroid’ physical features, there are other values and characteristics which typify individuals, or peoples, with black skin.
Pan-Africanism: Topic
General term for various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent.
Revolution: Topic
Any rapid, far-reaching, or violent change in the political, social, or economic structure of society.
Social Media: Topic
Social media is a broad term incorporating blogs, wikis, Internet communities and online discussions.

Culture

Postcolonial African Art
From Encyclopedia of African History
In many African countries that attained independence around 1960, art was seen to play an important role in celebrating the new nation, expressing a new postcolonial identity, unifying fragmented ethnic entities, and asserting traditional African culture and values
African Literature
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Literary works of the African continent. African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages (French, Portuguese, and English).
Music of Postcolonial Africa
From Encyclopedia of African History
Traditional music transcends age, gender, and social class. Popular music blends local and global influences and is most fashionable among urban youth.
Cricket: Topic
A bat-and-ball team game of 11-a-side.
Soccer: Topic
Form of football originating in the UK, popular throughout the world.

Events

Civil War in Postcolonial Africa
From Encyclopedia of African History
Since 1945, Africa has witnessed a range of wars, beginning with independence struggles against the colonial powers that often merged into postcolonial power struggles and civil wars, while after 1960 there have also been a number of wars between African states.
Rwandan Genocide
From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
The killing of more than 500,000 ethnic Tutsis by rival Hutu militias in Rwanda in 1994. The conflict between the dominant Tutsis and the majority Hutus had gone on for centuries, but the suddenness and savagery of the massacres caught the United Nations off-guard. U.N. peacekeepers did not enter the country until after much of the damage had been done.

Institutions

African National Congress: Topic
South African political party, founded in 1912 as a multiracial nationalist organization with the aim of extending the franchise to the whole population and ending all racial discrimination.
Organization of African Unity (OAU)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Former international organization, established in 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of members; eradicate all forms of colonialism; promote international cooperation; and coordinate members' economic, diplomatic, educational, health, welfare, scientific, and defense policies. The organization mediated several border and internal disputes and was instrumental in bringing about majority rule and the end of apartheid in South Africa, which in 1994 became the 53d nation to be admitted to the organization. The African Union replaced the OAU in 2002.

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