Ulijua? – Indépendence Cha Cha was a popular song that inspired African independence movements like the campaign in Zambia called the Cha-Cha-Cha!
Joseph Kabasele wrote Indépendence Cha Cha during the ‘Table Ronde’ Conference, when 30 June 1960 was picked as Congo’s Independence Day, only after Congolese delegates negotiated with Belgian leaders so that the Congo could be ruled by Congolese people.
African independence movements had to happen before Africans could own their lands again and become self-ruling nations.
This article is a summary of African independence movements. It explains what African independence movements were and why they happened.
You will learn about the people that were part of African independence movements as well as the time and the places in which they lived.
Click to Read: African Independence Movements in Summary
African Independence Movements
muhtasari
African independence movements started growing – all over Africa – from the 1900s onward. Millions of Africans wanted freedom from injustices done by European colonialists. So Africans organized movements to act against colonialism and to become independent countries, aka self-ruling nations.
Click to Read: A Brief History of Africa
Context
Between 1870 and 1914 the lives of many people in Africa changed. Africans saw Europeans take control of their lands. At the same time, countless Africans had to work, often without pay, in places where people died of violence, sickness and hunger.
During that time, tons of raw materials like diamonds, rubber and tea left Africa to be delivered to Europe. Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain decided to break up Africa for themselves. By 1914 only Liberia and Ethiopia were not colonized by Europeans.
What Were African Independence Movements?
African independence movements were organized by Africans that wanted to live in independent countries free from colonialism. They worked hard towards becoming independent nations by protesting injustices and joining conferences like the All African Peoples’ Conference of 1958.
African nationalists mainly worked for independence through peaceful actions, even though colonialists used much violence. Many African independence movements were influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent actions during the independence movement in India.
The All African Peoples’ Conference
In 1958, African nationalists from all over Africa met for the first time in Accra for the All African Peoples’ Conference. At the time only 8 countries in Africa were independent and self-ruling nations.
The All African Peoples’ Conference was organized to support and boost the independence movements around Africa. At the conference, Patrice Lumumba and Frantz Fanon, among others, made speeches that continue to inspire people to this day.
Southern Africa Committee photo archive
What Caused The African Independence Movements?
African independence movements happened because Africans wanted to live in independent countries with peace and justice.
Violence, sickness and hunger became big problems in colonial Africa. Most Africans worked in dangerous places. In 1921, people from central Africa were taken by force to West Africa to build the Congo-Ocean Railway for France; 17,000 workers died.
Many Africans, children too, fought in European wars. People were taken from countries like Algeria, Morocco and Senegal to fight for France during World War I.
Millions of Europeans settled largely on stolen land, especially in East and Southern Africa. Colonialists carried out segregation laws so that people with black skin had less freedom and justice than people with white skin.
Africans were forced to change the way they lived. Often, Europeans stopped them from speaking their languages and practicing their traditions. Countless African cultures disappeared in genocides during Europe’s colonisation of Africa.
Mau Mau War
From the 1900s, Kenyans began to be kicked out of their lands and into reserves by Britain. Kenyans had to do dangerous work, building places like the Embakasi Airport, now Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). At the same time, Britons built their homes, farms and plantations on Kenyan land.
In colonial Kenya, males older than 15 years old were not allowed to leave home without a kipande around their neck, like the pass laws in apartheid South Africa.
Kenyans suffered while they were ruled by Britain, they wanted their lands back and most importantly to self-rule. The Kenya Land and Freedom Army, known as the Mau Mau, fought against British rule in Kenya. The Mau Mau Rebellion inspired Kenyans and Africans to continue working toward independence from countries like Britain.
Who Was Part Of African Independence Movements?
African independence movements were supported by people that wanted Africans to be free from European colonialism.
African nationalists played an important part in African independence movements by uniting people. The African independence movements and leaders in the struggle like Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah, among so many others, inspired millions of people with intelligent and encouraging actions and speeches.
People often risked their lives to bring justice and make Africa independent.
World War II veterans protested peacefully in Accra because they had not been paid in 1948. The British police in Ghana shot at the veterans and killed three men: Sergeant Nii Adjetey, Corporal Patrick Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey.
President Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the first Prime Minister, and then President, of Ghana. On 6 March 1957 Ghana became the first African country to gain independence in sub Saharan Africa.
President Kwame Nkrumah played an important part in African independence movements. Once Ghanains became independent they helped independence movements all over Africa by working with them and sending them money.
Kwame Nkrumah worked hard to make Africa for Africans. When Guinea became independent, French people left the country in chaos by breaking things like major electrical wires and hospital generators. So President Nkrumah’s government helped Guinea by uniting the countries and loaning them US$28 million.
© The National Archives UK / OGL v1.0
When Were The African Independence Movements?
Africans worked to end colonialism since the first acts of injustice in the late 1800s. The more Europeans took from Africa the more Africans wanted to be free.
Generally, by the 1940s African independence movements were active and strong movements.
African independence movements became stronger as more Africans learned to read, write and speak in European languages. Colonialists rarely learned African languages and ways of life.
During this period, the Civil Rights Movement in America, with leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, was also happening.
La Négritude
La Négritude was a writing style that was especially popular in French colonies. It started out in the 1930s in Paris by famous writers like Aimé Cesar and Léopold Sedar Senghor, who later became the first president of Senegal.
The goal of the La Négritude movement was to represent people with black skin in a positive way. Before then, almost all books by Europeans about black people were deeply racist.
It raised African’s minds from unjust European literature. La Négritude writers often wrote against colonialism and inspired African and Central Americans to take part in independence movements. La Négritude was a way for Africans to write Africa’s story.
© UNESCO / Alexis N. Vorontzoff / CC-BY-SA-3.0-IGO
Where Were The African Independence Movements?
African independence movements happened all over Africa but they were more intense in certain regions, usually in places most useful to European colonialists.
Desert areas in the North of Kenya did not have independence movements as strong as the ones in the Centre of Kenya – where British colonialists mainly lived and worked.
African independence movements mostly took place in Africa where people organized events like peaceful protests, however, many important actions happened outside of Africa, like the Pan African Congresses and the “Table Ronde” Conferences.
Algerian War
In 1848, Algeria became part of France but Algerians never wanted it. Algerians were taken away from their lands and called indigène by French colonialists. By the 1960s there were over a million French colonialists in Algeria.
France had over 100,000 Algerians fighting in French wars as tirailleurs. The tirailleurs were not treated or paid like European soldiers.
From 1940, many Algerians moved to France to work and to support their independence movement. Algerians were treated unjustly in France: countless Algerians were killed by the police for protesting in the Paris massacre of 1961.
The Algerian revolution was a war between the National Liberation Front (FLN) and France it started in 1954 and ended in 1962 when Algerians became free from French rule.
Aftermath
Today there are 54 independent countries in Africa thanks to African independence movements.
The first two African countries to gain independence were Libya in 1957 and Morocco in 1956. In 1960 – the Year of Africa – 17 countries of which are the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mali Federation and Nigeria got their independence from Belgium, France and Britain. Zimbabwe was one of the last countries to gain independence from Britain in 1980 … 44 years ago.
Post-colonial leaders in Africa avoided many internal and international wars by sticking to African nationalism and the OAU principle of respect for borders in Africa*.
After the independence period, many problems came about in Africa like rising poverty, civil wars and corruption, while Africa was still i by Europe in Cold War proxy wars and neocolonialism.
What do you know about independence movements from your country?
Independence movements against colonisation happened on other continents, like in Asia and South America. Today many Kanak people in New Caledonia – a French territory and ex-colony in the Pacific Ocean – support the Kanak independence movement because they want to be free from France.
Africans across the continent got their independence because they were united – they worked together!
Read More 🙂
*OAU CHARTER 1963
https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/7759-file-oau_charter_1963.pdf
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! – Amos 5:24
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