Thinkers Timeline

Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese political leader and the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was born in 1925 in Onalua, a village in the Kasai region. He came from the Tetela people. He was educated at mission schools and worked as a postal clerk and then as a beer salesman in Stanleyville (now Kisangani) and Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). During the 1950s, he became active in politics. He wrote articles, gave speeches, and helped found trade unions and cultural groups. In 1958, he helped create the Mouvement National Congolais, a party that wanted independence from Belgium for the whole country, not for one region only. He attended the All-African Peoples' Conference in Accra, Ghana, and met leaders like Kwame Nkrumah. Belgium agreed to give Congo independence on 30 June 1960. Lumumba became Prime Minister. He was 35 years old. His independence day speech, delivered in the presence of the Belgian King, shocked the world with its honesty about colonial violence. Within weeks, the new country fell into crisis. Parts of the country tried to break away. Belgian troops returned. Lumumba asked the United Nations and then the Soviet Union for help. Western powers, afraid of losing Congo's minerals, worked against him. He was removed from office, arrested, and handed over to his enemies. He was killed on 17 January 1961, aged 35.