Patrice Lumumba
First prime minister of the independent Congo and pan-African martyr.
Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving from June until September 1960.[1] On 17 January 1961, the democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was executed; the governments of Belgium and the United States assisted in this act.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 2 July 1925
- Birth name
- Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Lumumba was born on 2 July 1925 in Onalua, in the Belgian Congo, and was a member of the Tetela ethnic group.[3] In 1958 he helped found the Mouvement National Congolais, a political party demanding independence from Belgium.[2] Lumumba won the country’s first parliamentary election in June 1960.[2] Lumumba was captured, tortured, and executed by firing squad on 17 January 1961.[2][4]
His employment included selling beer as a travelling salesman and working as a postal clerk; he also authored poetry that often contained anti-imperialist themes.[5]
What the cited sources add
The same article states that in 1960 Lumumba publicly condemned Belgian colonial rule as “humiliating slavery”.[6] A Zinn Education Project account reports that Lumumba was executed with the assistance of the governments of Belgium and the United States.[2] That report also notes that Lumumba’s body was chopped into pieces and dissolved in acid, and that a former police commissioner claimed to have kept two of Lumumba’s teeth as “keepsakes”.[7] The Guardian further reports that Lumumba was branded a dangerous radical and Communist sympathiser by the Belgians and Americans, who also plotted to kill him.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Patrice Lumumba" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Lumumba"; Mulumba 2019, p. 251; "Jan. 17, 1961: Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was Executed", Zinn Education Project; Nzongola-Ntalaja, "Patrice Lumumba", Ohio University Press, November 4, 2014, p. 48 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Jan. 17, 1961: Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was Executed", Zinn Education Project. facts only, no text reused. zinnedproject.org
- Wikipedia, "Patrice Lumumba" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kanyarwunga 2006, p. 76; Zeilig 2015, p. Section: Wives, lovers and children; Fabian 1996, p. 73; Willame 1990, p. 22–25; Kanyarwunga 2006, p. 76; Hagendorens 1975, p. 275–276; Hagendorens 1975, p. 275–276; Kanyarwunga 2006, p. 76 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Patrice Lumumba" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: De Witte 2001, p. 89f (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Patrice Lumumba" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Patrice Lumumba", Peoples' Friendship University of Russia; "Struggle Filled Lumumba's Life, From Tribal Days to Prominence", The New York Times, 14 February 1961 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Taylor, "Foreign Rule and Colonial Fictions", Cato Unbound, 2017-10-13. facts only, no text reused. cato-unbound.org
- "Belgium faces up to its bloody past", The Guardian, 2002-02-08. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Patrice Lumumba (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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