african independence

Between the two world wars, an educated middle class had began to emerge to African cities, Young men went to abroad for college and graduate studies. They listened to American jazz musicians and read literature of the Harlem Renaissance. they were influenced by African Americans such as W.E.B. du Bois as well as by such older african as Blaise Diagne, who organized Pan-African congresses in 1919 and 1921. French-speaking Africans and West Indians began to express their growing sense of black consciousness and pride in traditional Africa. They formed the Negritude. This movement viewed the black experience as unique. One of the movement's leaders, Leopold Senghor, later became the first president of Senegal.


one of the movement leaders, Leopold Senghor later became the first president of Senegal. African soldiers in world world 11 fought alongside Europeans to defend freedom. this experience mad then unwilling to accept colonial domination when they returned home. the postwar world changed the thinking of European too. They began to question the cost of maintaining their colonial abroad. The leader of their largely nonviolent protests was Kwame Nkrumah. He was a former teacher who had spent several years studying the united states. in the 1940s, he worked to liberate the Gold coast. he became president of the African organization of the united states and Canada. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in 1947. He helped to stage strikes and riots against the government. One was the strong leadership of Kenyan nationalist Jomo Kenyatta , a Kikuyu educated in London. The second was the rise of the Mau Mau. By the time the British granted Kenya independence in 1963, more than 10,000 black Kenyans and 100 white Kenyans had been killed. Kenyatta became president of the new nation. He worked hard to unite the various ethic and language groups in country.