Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
Congo's first prime minister: one speech made him the empire's target
“History will one day have its say… Africa will write its own history.” — last letter to his wife from prison, 1960
Independence leader and first prime minister of the Congo. His unscheduled 1960 independence-day speech indicting colonial violence before King Baudouin made him a global symbol; within three months he was deposed and the following year killed with CIA and Belgian complicity.
Career timeline
- 1958Founds the Congolese National Movement
- 1960.5Wins the first elections; first prime minister
- 1960.6The unscheduled independence-day speech indicting colonial rule
- 1960.9Deposed and confined by Mobutu's coup
- 1961.1Flown to Katanga and killed, with CIA and Belgian complicity