Unajua?– You can read formerly secret files from the CIA about the All African Peoples Conference on the internet!
The All African Peoples Conference was a meeting organized in Ghana to build up African independence movements at an all-important time in the history of Africa.
Many personalities were at the AAPC, from African nationalists to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), because they knew that the All African Peoples Conference was going change the future of Africa.
This article tells you what the All African Peoples Conference was about and why it took place.
You will read about the time and the place in which the conference happened as well as the people that were at the All African Peoples Conference.
This article is part of the African Independence Movements series
The All African Peoples Conference
MUHTASARI
The All African Peoples Conference was organized by Pan-Africanists to build up African independence movements. The major goal of the AAPC was to free Africans from European rule in Africa. The conference met 3 times in African countries between 1958 and 1961.
Click to Read: African Independence Movements in Summary
Background
Africans did not live in peace during colonialism. Millions of people were kicked out of their lands while many had to work in extremely dangerous places.
By the late 1900s, more and more Africans – from around the continent – organized actions to put a stop to European colonialism. African independence movements needed to unite and work together to become self-ruling nations.
What Was The All African Peoples Conference?
The All African Peoples Conference was a meeting for people that wanted to free Africa from colonialism. The AAPC was the first time that people from central, east, north, west and southern Africa met in Africa!
At the conference people talked about their thoughts on Africa. African nationalists shared ideas and helped each other make African independence movements stronger to bring about independent and self-ruling African countries.
The Pan African Congress
The Pan African Congress was a set of meetings that took place 5 times before the All African Peoples Conference between 1919 and 1945 in cities in Europe and America.
Leaders of Pan Africanism, like W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida Gibbs Hunt, created the Pan African Congress to free people in Africa and the Americas from European colonialism and gross injustices towards Black people (see lynching laws in the US).
Major leaders of African independence movements like Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and George Padmore were at the Pan African Congress, among people from the United States and colonies in the Caribbean and Africa.
In 1945, at the 5th Pan African Congress in Manchester, it was brought up that during World War II the Allies fought against the Axis for freedom, yet millions of people in Africa, Asia and the Americas lived under European colonial rule.
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
What Was The Purpose Of The All African People’s Conference?
The purpose of the All African Peoples Conference was to unite African independence movements that would set up independent African nations and to make independent countries in Africa stronger.
The Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) was a political party at the AAPC in 1958. It was lead by Patrice Lumumba who talked about of the lives of Congolese people during Belgian’s brutal rule. Leaders of already independent countries helped African independence movements, like the MNC, grow stronger.
Neocolonialism was a major talking point at the conferences because many independent countries in Africa were still being used by European countries.
Between 1960 and 1966 France dropped 17 nuclear bombs in Algeria as tests, even though Algeria became independent from France in 1962. Algerians did not want them, and often times did not know that nuclear tests took place on their land.
Nuclear Bombs Dropped In Africa
At the conference people protested against the dangerous nuclear testing that France did in the Sahara desert.
From 1960 to 1966, 17 nuclear bombs were dropped by France in Algeria, in the regions of Reggane and In Ekker.
Algerians were not protected during the explosion. People suffer from sicknesses (cancers, chronic CVDs) caused by the nuclear bombs dropped by France. Today those areas still have toxic waste in unknown places.
The Beryl Incident (1962) caused radioactive and dangerous objects to go into the air, which caused many serious health problems. Later, France dropped almost 200 nuclear bombs in French Polynesia with similar results.
People around the world protested against France’s nuclear tests in the Sahara desert.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-70653-0001 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
Who Was At The All African Peoples Conference?
Pan Africanists from across Africa joined the AAPC, they mostly belonged to African independence movements like political parties and labour unions.
The All African Peoples Conference in 1958 had people from European-ruled African territories like Nyasaland and Kenya and the independent African countries of Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria), except for apartheid South Africa.
African nationalists gave powerful speeches that continue to inspire people. Tom Mboya, the chairman of the conference, famously said that it was time for colonial powers to “scram from Africa” (see the Scramble for Africa). Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Frantz Fanon also made historic speeches.
Shirley Graham read a speech by W. E. B. Du Bois. Eslanda Robeson joined the AAPC and Paul Robeson sent greetings. In 1958, eight women attended the conference.
People from the United States, China, the Soviet Union, India, Indonesia, Britain and other European countries joined the All African Peoples Conference as well as journalists from Africa and around the world.
Almost all important leaders of African independence movements were at the AAPC. But it was very hard for many people to get to Accra to join the All African Peoples Conference. At the time Jomo Kenyatta was unjustly imprisoned by British colonialists.
It took Alfred Hutchinson 2 months to get to Ghana from South Africa! After he was cleared in the Treason Trial, which also accused Nelson Mandela, he set out on a dangerous journey through colonial Africa without a valid passport.
Frantz Fanon
In 1958, at the first All African Peoples Conference, Frantz Fanon made a speech that changed the way Pan Africans thought about using violence to become free from colonialism.
Frantz Fanon talked about injustices done by French immigrants – and the need for peace – in Algeria. Following deadly wars, Algeria became a part of France in 1848, but Algerians did not want it. French colonialists kicked Algerians out of their lands and often made them do deadly work (see Algerian tirailleurs).
Mahatma Gandhi largely inspired the use of nonviolence by Pan Africans in African independence movements, even though Europeans used much violence in Africa. When Frantz Fanon gave his speech, most leaders agreed that sometimes violence is needed to become independent and self-ruling countries.
However, some African nationalists like Patrice Lumumba still believed in using nonviolence to fight European colonialism.
Frantz Fanon was born on the former French colony of Martinique. He was a doctor and writer and member of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN).
https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-26-fanon/, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
When Was The All African Peoples Conference?
There were 3 All African Peoples Conferences.
The first All African Peoples Conferences was during the second week of December in 1958 (Accra). The second conference was during the last week January in 1958 (Tunis). The third was during the last week of March in 1961 (Cairo).
The conferences happened when countries in Africa were becoming independent. In 1960 – the Year of Africa – there were 17 new independent African countries.
More and more people learned to read and write in languages like French and English.
Kenya was in a state of emergency with the Mau Mau Rebellion (1952-1960). Algerians were fighting the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). South Africa was under apartheid law (1948-1994). The Civil Rights Movement (c. 1950-1960) was happening in the United States and the Cold War (1947-1991) around the world.
Apartheid South Africa
Apartheid South Africa was ruled by a small group of White Africans that made unjust laws for South Africans. The word apartheid means separateness in Afrikaans.
Starting in 1948, South Africans were separated in groups like “Black”, “White”, “Coloured”, and “Indian”. During apartheid people from different groups did not live in the same areas, use the same services (schools, hospitals, restaurants) or get married.
Black people, made up of ethnic groups like the Zulu, Xhosa and Ndebele were the largest and most oppressed group in apartheid South Africa.
Millions of Black South Africans were kicked out of their homes and put into segregated areas like Soweto and thus separated from White South Africans by the government. This city planing, like redlining in the United States, still affects people.
People that worked against apartheid were often unjustly put in prison or killed. Thousands of Black people died in apartheid South Africa.
To stop apartheid, protests took place in South Africa and in countries around the world that stopped doing business with South Africa, through economic sanctions.
Apartheid in South Africa ended about 30 years ago in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as the first Black president of South Africa.
UNESCO, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons
Where was the African Conference held?
The All African Peoples Conferences took place in the cities of Accra in Ghana (1958); Tunis in Tunisia (1960) and Cairo in Egypt (1961).
The first All African Peoples Conference was held in the Accra Community Centre in Accra, Ghana. It was the first time that that many Africans met in an independent African country.
In the picture above you can see Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah giving a speech. Behind him are leaders of African independence movements. Over them are some of the slogans of the conference: “Hands Off Africa!” and “Africa Must Be Free”.
The slogan “Hands Off Africa!” was chosen after Prime Minister Nkrumah gave a speech at The Conference of Independent African States in Accra earlier in 1958.
Ghana
The country of Ghana is in West Africa. It has been home to many people, like the Gurma and those of the kingdoms of Ashanti and Dagbon.
Ghana was called the Gold Coast while it was colonized by Britain. During that time European countries like Britain and Portugal made money by kidnapping and selling people in places like Osu Castle and Elmina Castle. Ghana became independent from Britain on 6 March 1957, it was the first independent country in sub Saharan Africa.
Ghana is known for its history and culture, like the Black Star Square which is a popular touristic attraction in Accra and the Black Stars football team and Jollof Rice.
Southern Africa Committee photo archive
Today
The All African Peoples Conference helped make African countries become independent by uniting African independence movements.
In 2018, the 60th anniversary of the first All African Peoples Conference of 1958 took place at the University of Ghana.
The AAPC was a every important meeting: many decisions and connections made at the conference massively shaped not only Africa’s but the world’s history.
Many people risked their lives to attend and speak at the All African Peoples Conference, such risks are often what it takes free yourself and others from injustice.
Word Bank 📚🧑🏿🏫
Rule it is a noun
control of a people or place
Continent it is a noun
one of the 7 big lands in the world: Africa, Asia, Australia, Antartica, Europe, North America, South America
References
Books
White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa by Susan Williams
Links to websites
Wikipedia – All-African Peoples Conference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-African_Peoples%27_Conference#cite_note-House75-8
Wikipedia – Pan African Congress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-African_Congress
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – “THE ALL AFRICA PEOPLES CONFERENCE IN 1961
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP78-00915R001300320009-3.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP78-00915R001300320014-7.pdf
Global Zero – The Legacy Of French Nuclear Testing In Algeria Shows How Nuclear Weapons Perpetuate Colonialism
El Watan La Fabrique / El Watan2 – IN EKKER : Le scandale des essais nucléaires continue (2012)
Radio France Internationale – France summoned to come clean on Algerian nuclear test sites
The Guardian – France has underestimated impact of nuclear tests in French Polynesia, research finds
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! – Amos 5:24
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