Selections from Global African History Speeches
Black Past
Speeches delivered by people of African ancestry around the world which have contributed to the shaping of Global African history. These speeches serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources.
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Black Past · 4 May 1994
On May 9, 1994, Nelson Mandela was officially inaugurated as the first democratically elected President of South Africa chosen by the majority of the nation’s citizens. His inauguration address given …
Black Past · 10 December 1993
In 1993 South African political activist Nelson Mandela shared the annual Nobel Peace Prize with South African President F.W. de Klerk. Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize address on December 10, 1993 …
Black Past · 13 April 1993
After Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he and representatives of the African National Congress (ANC) began a public period of negotiations in preparation for majority rule in …
Black Past · 11 February 1990
In 1990 the South African government released Nelson Mandela from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, South Africa after more than 28 years of incarceration including more than 20 years in …
Black Past · 11 April 1983
In the following address given in Berlin, East Germany on April 11, 1983 at celebrations marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, Samora Machel, discusses the relevance of …
Black Past · 30 August 1974
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi emerged in the 1970s as one of the moderate black leaders in South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaign. In 1970 he was appointed leader of the KwaZulu Territorial Authority …
Black Past · 18 August 1973
On August 18, 1973, Hudson William Edison Ntsanwisi, then Chief Minister of the “independent homeland” of Gazankulu in South Africa, was scheduled to present an address titled “Petty Apartheid” before …
Black Past · 15 August 1973
In 1973 attorney K.M.N. Guzana was leader of the opposition Democratic Party in the national legislature of the theoretically independent nation of Transkei, one of the former homelands created by …
Black Past · 1 July 1973
By the early 1970s South African cleric Desmond Mpilo Tutu had not yet achieved worldwide fame as an opponent of Apartheid. Nonetheless, in a July 1973 paper delivered to the …
Black Past · 15 June 1973
By the 1970s Lucy Mvubelo had become a powerful force in the black South African Labor Union Movement. Born in Johannesburg in 1920 she first joined the Garment Workers Union …