ANC adopts the Programme of Action

Italian forces enter Addis Ababa after the invasion. Ethiopia’s government-in-exile and resistance continued to contest occupation; the date marks an imperial conquest, not the end of Ethiopian...

Young African activists form the ANC Youth League to challenge the slow pace and cautious methods of the parent organization. Their program emphasized mass action and African leadership and helped...

As the UN founding conference begins, African and diaspora organizations circulate a manifesto demanding self-government and equal rights for colonized peoples. The episode shows how activists used...

The Manchester congress brings together activists, trade unionists and future political leaders from Africa, the Caribbean, Britain and the United States. It shifts emphasis toward mass struggle and...

Kwame Nkrumah and supporters found the CPP after breaking with more cautious nationalist leaders. It built a mass base among workers and young people and made immediate self-government a popular...

Twenty-nine Asian and African governments meet in Bandung to oppose colonialism and racism and to expand cooperation among recently independent and still-colonized peoples. Bandung was not a...

The Gold Coast becomes independent Ghana under a government led by Kwame Nkrumah. Independence gave Pan-African organizing a sovereign base, and Ghana supported liberation movements and hosted...

Independent African governments meet in Accra to coordinate anticolonial positions and support territories still under colonial rule. The gathering helped establish a diplomatic dimension to...

Political parties, trade unions and liberation movements gather in Accra, extending Pan-African cooperation beyond state representatives. Delegates support national liberation struggles and urge...

The PAC forms after a split from the ANC, advocating Africanist leadership and opposing pass laws and white minority rule. The split reflected real debates about multiracial alliances, nationalism and...