African Independence Movements

Essential Questions

• Why did independence movements in Africa gain success after World War II?
• What was Jomo Kenyatta’s leadership role in Kenya?
• What was Nelson Mandela’s leadership role in South Africa?

After the World Wars, African colonies demanded independence (just like they did in India). Africans resented economic exploitation and African nationalism grew.

Pan-Africanism

The U.N. Charter

• After World War II, the UN Charter guaranteed colonies the right of SELF-DETERMINATION:
• The right of a nation or people to determine its own form of government without influence from outside
• Result: Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Portugal will lose their colonies
• Cold War competition > Imperialism!

From Colony to Country

• Independence is HARDER for African countries under direct control
• Indirect colonial rule (Protectorate) = easier transition to independence
• West Africa: Peaceful transition
• Direct colonial rule (Colony) = independence came w/ more difficulty
• Algeria: Violent transition, war

Algeria

In Algeria, French people owned the most fertile land while Algerians got less productive lands. The Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) fought for independence. War (1954-1962) with over 1 million dead. World opinion turned against France.

South Africa

• A self-governing dominion of the British Empire
• ALL political power in the hands of whites enforced between 1948-1994
• APARTHEID: institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination
• The African National Congress (ANC) was founded to eliminate apartheid and the white-led government

Original Architects of Apartheid

The Founding Members of the ANC

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Nelson Mandela

Robben Island

Nelson Mandela

• In 1960, the ANC was banned
• Mandela, a young attorney, argued against apartheid and advocated violence
• In 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison where his popularity grew
• Released from prison in 1990
• Elected first black President of the Republic of South Africa in 1994

"The message of reconciliation, of nation-building, of granting amnesty, indemnity, has struck a powerful, favorable chord. And people can understand that we're here not for purposes of retribution but to forget the past and to build our country."

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Kenya

• British colony
• European planters used Africans as laborers
• The people had become tenant farmers in their own country
• The MAU MAU Uprising (1950s) against colonial rule led by the Kikuyu tribe, put down by the British

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Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta

• Nationalist leader
• The British imprisoned him for 9 years, accusing him as being part of the Mau Mau Rebellion
• After he is freed, leads the Kenyan African National Union (KANU)
• Becomes Kenya's first Prime Minister in 1964

West Africa (Ghana)

West Africa (Ghana)

• 1947: United Gold Coast Convention founded
• Leader: Kwame Nkrumah
• Nkrumah called for peaceful action to remove British from rule
• Nkrumah was jailed and released
• 1957: Ghana declared independent and the people elect Nkrumah
• Known as "Osagyefo", the Savior

Kwame Nkrumah

"Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them."

The charter of the United Nations guaranteed colonial populations the right to self-determination.
Independence movements in Africa challenged European imperialism.

Important Places and People to Know

• Algeria-Violent war for independence from France
• South Africa-Nelson Mandela elected President in 1994 after 28 years in prison ending apartheid
• Kenya- Jomo Kenyatta elected Prime Minister after the Mau Mau Rebellion
• Ghana-Kwame Nkrumah led a peaceful transition of decolonization from Britain