Ghana becomes independent

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...

At its annual conference the ANC adopts a program calling for boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. Influenced by the Youth League, the program helped move the organization toward mass...

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...

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...

Police kill 69 people during protests against pass laws organized by the PAC. The killings revealed the violence underpinning apartheid’s movement controls and led the government to ban the PAC and...

Ghana and Guinea announce a union intended as a first step toward broader African political unity. It remained largely symbolic and faced practical obstacles, illustrating both the ambition of...