LibGuides: African History: Independence and After

Leaders and Politicians

Steve Biko
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
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
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
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–, South African statesman; winner of the Nobel peace prize.
Thabo Mbeki
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
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
Zimbabwean politician, prime minister from 1980 and executive president from 1987.
Gamal Nasser
1918–70, 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 cent.
Kwame Nkrumah
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–, 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
From Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History
Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, also known as Anwar el-Sadat and Anwar al-Sadat, was president of the Arab Republic of Egypt (1970-1981) and the “architect of a new Mideast.” Sadat was assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists within his own army on October 6, 1981.
Charles Taylor
From The Encyclopedia of African History
21st president of the Republic of Liberia, plunged his country into a brutal seven-year civil war that resulted in the total destruction of Liberia and the displacement of large populations either internally or as refugees.

Cultural Figures

Chinua Achebe
1930–, Nigerian writer. In 2007 he was awarded the Man Booker International Prize .
Molefi Asante
From African-American Writers: A Dictionary
The founder of the Afrocentric school of thought and a preeminent scholar of African-American history and traditions.
JM Coetzee
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
From France and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History
The writings of Frantz Fanon constitute a complex reflection on the legacy of slavery and empire on both sides of the Atlantic.
Fela Kuti
From The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music
The creator of the Afrobeat style of music (in which African rhythms replaced American R&B and soul rhythms), Kuti was the most politically outspoken of the African musicians who found international success in the seventies and eighties.
Ousmane Sembene
1923–2007, 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
Writer, born near Abeokuta, SW Nigeria. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

Movements

Afrocentrism
From Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History
Afrocentrism is an African American ideological and educational movement supporting and promulgating pride in peoples of African descent by locating the origins of black civilization in Egypt.
Black Consciousness Movement
From South Africa's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook
In 1971 the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) emerged to provide ideological leadership, especially among the educated in black townships.
Decolonization
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 Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Leaders, Movements, and Concepts
Movement in Kenya of the late 1940s and 1950s, during the period of British colonial rule. Its intent was initially to bring about new government policies that would improve conditions for Africans in Kenya, and ultimately to end British colonial rule in the country.
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
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
Any rapid, far-reaching, or violent change in the political, social, or economic structure of society.

Institutions

African National Congress
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 Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Leaders, Movements, and Concepts
Established in Addis Ababa in 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) is a vehicle for collaboration and unity among African nations.

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 A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures
Between 6 April and July 1994, 1 million Rwandan citizens were killed. The vast majority of these victims belonged to the Tutsi socio-ethnic group.

Health Issues

AIDS
AIDS is the world's most deadly STD and the fourth leading global cause of death.
Famine
Severe shortage of food affecting a large number of people.
Malaria
Infectious parasitic disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes, marked by periodic fever and an enlarged spleen.
Schistosomiasis
Bilharziasis, or snail fever, parasitic disease caused by blood flukes, trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma.
Tropical Medicine
Study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of certain diseases prevalent in the tropics.
Trypanosomiasis
Two types of African sleeping sickness are caused, respectively, by Trypanosoma rhodesiense and T. gambiense, both transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly.
Vaccination
Means of producing immunity against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, by the introduction of live, killed, or altered antigens that stimulate the body to produce antibodies against more dangerous forms.

Culture

African Art
From Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History
From its ancient civilizations to contemporary culture, Africa has been a continent of extraordinary artistic creativity.
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.
Soukous
From Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History
Probably the most influential African musical style, and definitely the most popular African dance music of the twentieth century.
Cricket
A bat-and-ball team game of 11-a-side.
Soccer
Form of football originating in the UK, popular throughout the world.

Books

Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt
Covering the period from 1760 to the present, provides biodata, biographical sketches, and source material for men and women who have played a major role in Egypt's national life.
World Politics Since 1945
Essential reading for those who need to understand the great sweeps of contemporary history.
A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures: Continental Europe and its Empires
Provides an integrated and authoritative body of information about the political, cultural and economic contexts of postcolonial literatures that have their provenance in the major European Empires of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as well as places like Latin America and the Philippines

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