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 …
Black Past · 1 December 1972
In a speech before the Scandinavian Institute for African Affairs, Uppsala, Sweden, in December, 1972, Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, then the Chief Executive Officer of the KwaZulu Territorial Authority, describes his …
Black Past · 14 February 1971
Sese Seko Ngbendu Waza Banga Mobutu, originally known as Joseph Desire Mobutu, served as Patrice Lumumba’s private secretary before being appointed Chief of Staff and second in command of the …
Black Past · 7 February 1970
Samora Machel, the leader of the Mozambique Liberation Front and first president of independent Mozambique (1975-1986), was a Marxist-Leninist. In his speech, given in Maputo, the capital, on February 7, …
Black Past · 3 February 1969
In a speech celebrating the life of Dr. Eduardo Mondlane, leader the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) who was assassinated by Portuguese agents on February 3, 1969, Amilcar Cabral, leader of …
Black Past · 1 April 1968
By 1968 the freedom struggle for Namibia was a two year old guerilla war against South African control of the region. That struggle was directed by the Southwest African People’s …
Black Past · 13 July 1966
In 1966 Julius Kambarage Nyerere was President of the Republic of Tanzania. When President Kenneth Kaunda of neighboring Zambia became the first Chancellor of the University of Zambia when it …
Black Past · 1 January 1966
In 1966 Amilcar Cabral was the Secretary-General and President of the War Council of the P.A.I. G. C. (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde). In January …
Black Past · 15 May 1964
In 1963 Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was selected as the first President of Nigeria. The following year he gave a public lecture on the benefits of tribalism in forging national unity …
Black Past · 1 November 1963
On November 17, 1948 the University of Ibadan became the first modern institution of higher education in Nigeria when it began as an external college of the University of London. …
Black Past · 1 June 1963
Es’kia Mphahlele was a South African writer, professor, and political activist who was critical of the nation’s apartheid regime. He subsequently spent twenty years in exile from South Africa between …