The so-called Mwalimu, the schoolmaster, founded in 1954 Tanganyika African National Union, which won the 1960 elections peacefully. Nyerere succeeded in leading his country to independence on 9 December 1961. He became Prime Minister and then from 1962 to 1985, President of the whole new Republic of Tanganyika, which in 1964 became the United Republic […]

Originally from Sudan, she experienced humiliation, physical and psychological suffering of slavery. When she was bought, she went to live in Italy where she pronounced her first vows with the Canossian Sisters in 1896. Sister Josephine lived 51 years of religious life, letting herself be led by obedience in her work humble and hidden but […]

Joseph Ki-Zerbo, historian, professor and politician from Burkina Faso, has distinguished himself by an exceptional intellectual and academic background. He has studied political science and history, at the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (IEPP) and the Sorbonne. He brilliantly earned his Aggregation in History in 1956, becoming hence the first black African to bear […]

Jomo Kenyatta is a Kenyan statesman. An independence activist, he is imprisoned from 1952 to 1961 and became Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then President of the Republic from 1964 to 1978. Kenyatta not only fought for Kenya’s independence, he also tried to make it a united nation, in spite of a very […]

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was born a slave in the French part of the island of Santo Domingo (Republic of Haiti). He took part in the general uprising of August 1791. Once slavery was abolished, in 1794, Dessalines followed Toussaint when the latter rallied against the French. He became his lieutenant. They later succeeded in defeating the […]

Huda Shaarawi is a pioneer of Egyptian feminism. She set up, in January 1920, the Wafd Central Committee, of which she was elected Chairwoman. In 1923, shortly after the death of her husband, when she returned to Egypt, she decided not to put her scarf on and continued her political struggle with her face uncovered. […]

His real name Mouhamed Boukharouba, Houari Boumediene is a colonel and an Algerian statesman. He is the 2nd Head of State from 1965 to 1976, then President of the Republic from 1976 to 1978. A professional soldier, Chief of the General Staff of the National Liberation Army from 1959 to 1962. Following a coup d’état, […]

Gisèle Rabesahala is a Malagasy politician who dedicated her life to the independence of her country, to human rights and the freedom of people. At the age of 17, she took her first steps into politics by becoming involved as secretary in the Democratic Movement for Malagasy Renewal (MDRM), which campaigns for the country’s independence. […]

Born into a very modest family in Monrovia, the young teenager Georges Weah started playing football in a modest club in the city. In 1988, he plays at Tonnerre in Yaoundé. It is the beginning of his international career which reached its peak when it won the 1995 FIFA Ballon d’Or award, and became thus […]

Gamal Abdel Nasser became involved at a very young age in the fight against British influence in Egypt. As a lieutenant-colonel, he founded in 1945 the Mouvement of Free Officers, in 1952 led a military coup d’état against King Farouk and proclaimed the Republic in 1953. Among the main actors of the conference of Bandoeng […]