The UN adopts the Genocide Convention

Burma achieved independence after nationalist organizing and negotiations over British withdrawal. The creation of a sovereign state ended formal imperial control over its government. In an...

African veterans marched toward Christiansborg Castle to present demands over promised benefits and pay. Police killed three veterans, and wider unrest followed. The protest confronted unequal...

The colonial governor ordered the arrest of six leading United Gold Coast Convention figures after unrest following the veterans’ shootings. The detained leaders became known as the Big Six. Their...

The Supreme Court held that courts could not enforce racially restrictive housing covenants. J. D. and Ethel Shelley’s legal struggle challenged the use of state power to exclude Black families from...

President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed services regardless of race, colour, religion or national origin. Black veterans...

The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris. Its principles gave campaigners language for challenging exclusion from political, social and economic rights. The...

Kwame Nkrumah formed the Convention People’s Party in the Gold Coast. Its demand for immediate self-government and mass organizing widened the struggle beyond negotiations among established...

The ANC adopted a Programme of Action calling for boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and noncooperation. It linked national freedom to ending white domination and gaining political rights. The...

The Netherlands transferred sovereignty following years of Indonesian resistance and negotiations. The transfer recognized a political independence that Indonesians had proclaimed in 1945 and defended...

Kwame Nkrumah announced Positive Action in Accra, calling for strikes, boycotts and noncooperation to press for self-government. Collective withdrawal of labour and cooperation challenged the...