Ghana and Guinea announce a union

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...

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...

Nigeria becomes independent from Britain. Its size, population and regional diversity made the new state an important actor in continental diplomacy and liberation support, while internal colonial...

The UN General Assembly admits seventeen African states in a single session, sharply increasing African representation. Their entry changed debates on colonialism and racial rule and helped African...

Leaders meet in Belgrade to pursue an international course outside the major Cold War blocs. The movement drew on Bandung and overlapped with Pan-African priorities of sovereignty and anticolonial...

Women activists establish the continental organization in Dar es Salaam to support liberation struggles and advance women’s political participation. Its founding counters histories that treat...

Thirty-two independent African states establish the OAU in Addis Ababa. Its charter commits members to African unity, sovereignty and the eradication of colonialism. The date also became Africa...