Today on Sojourner Truth, our African Liberation Day special.
On Monday, May 25, millions of people around the world marked African Liberation Day. The date is observed annually and serves as a coming together of all African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. On April 15, 1958, in the city of Accra, Ghana, African leaders convened the first Conference of Independent African States. The conference included representatives from Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Republic (which included Egypt and Syria) and representatives of the National Liberation Front of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian Peoples. This conference was the first Pan-African Conference held on the African continent.
It represented the collective expression of African peoples opposition to the racist systems of colonialism and imperialism. Among other provisions, the conference called for the founding of African Freedom Day. Five years later, after the First Conference of Independent African States in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, another historical meeting occurred. On May 25, 1963, leaders of thirty-two independent African States met to form the Organization of African Unity. At the historic Organization of African Unity meeting, the date of Africa Freedom Day was changed from April 15 to May 25 and Africa Freedom Day was declared African Liberation Day. African Liberation Day has been marked annually on May 25th in every corner of the world ever since.
Our guests are Nana Gyamfi and Dr. Gerald Horne. Nana Gyamfi is an attorney, consultant, educator, activist and the Executive Director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History & African-American Studies at the University of Houston, has written more than 30 books. His most recently published books include White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa, From Rhodes to Mandela and "Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music.
