History of African Freedom Struggle

1. Paper No.14
African Literature
• Name: Ravji Jalondhara
• Roll No:28
• Enrollment No:2069108420180024
• Paper No: 14 (African Literature)
• Topic: History of African Freedom Struggle
• Email Id: ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
• Submitted to: Department of English MKBU

2. • Some countries and their freedom:
• Ghana and Guinea
• The Struggle in Kenya
• Zimbabwe
• Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Ghana and Guinea:
• After second world war nationalist
organisations were organised in African
countries.
• The first country to gain independence
was Ghana. The struggle was lead by
Kwame Nkrumah.
• In 1949 he formed the convention people
party.
• In 1956 party won more than 70 percent
seats and Ghana became independent.

4. The struggle in Kenya:
• British imperialism had long been trying to prevent this
‘wind of change’ from blowing.
• In Kenya the nationalist movement had been launched
in the 1920s and one of its leaders who emerged into
prominence was Jomo Kenyatta.
• In 1943, was formed the Kenya Africa Union which later
became the Kenya African National Union which,
besides Jomo Kenyatta, was led by Odinga Oginga.
• The British were compelled to end their repression
which had won them world-wide condemnation. In
1961, Kenyatta was freed. On 12 December 1964, Kenya
became a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its first
President.

5. Zimbabwe:
• Another country which had to undergo a long period of struggle
before she became independent was Zimbabwe (formerly Southern
Rhodesia).
• She had been a British colony but the White settlers there, under the
leadership of Ian Smith, captured power in 1965.
• In 1980, elections were held in Southern Rhodesia in which
everyone—Black and White alike—had one vote. The nationalist
parties swept the polls and the country became independent with a
new name, Zimbabwe.

6. Democratic Republic of Congo:
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly
Zaire and much earlier called the Belgian
Congo), the freedom movement was led by
Patrice Lumumba who had set up the National
Congolese Movement.
• On 30 June 1960, Congo became independent
with Lumumba as the prime minister.
• However, soon after, the governor of the
province of Katanga, supported by Western
companies which controlled the vast mineral
(copper) resources of the province, announced
the secession of the province from Congo.

7. Mau Mau Movement:
• Mau Mau, militant African
nationalist movement that originated
in the 1950s among the Kikuyu people
of Kenya.
• The Mau Mau (origin of the name is
uncertain) advocated violent
resistance to British domination in
Kenya.
• The movement was especially
associated with the ritual oaths
employed by leaders of the Kikuyu
Central Association to promote unity
in the independence movement.

8. Anti-Apartheid Movement
• Apartheid called for the separate development
of the different racial groups in South Africa.
• The iconic struggle between the apartheid
regime of South Africa and those who resisted it
illustrates the complexity of some cases of civil
resistance.
• Originally the use of civil resistance against
apartheid was based on Gandhian ideas, which
originated in South Africa in 1906 where Gandhi
was a lawyer working for an Indian trading firm.
• The decades of struggle saw the ebb and flow of
a wide variety of strategic actions within the
anti-apartheid movement.

9. South African Freedom Fighters:
Nelson Mandela Patrice Lumumba Kwame Nkrumah

10. Resources:
• http://www.historydiscussion.net/wars/freedom-movements-in-
southern-africa-after-the-second-world-war/840
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mau-Mau
• https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/anti-apartheid-struggle-south-
africa-1912-1992/