PATRICE LUMUMBA

164pp., map, paperback, Reprint, Johannesburg, (2014) 2021

First published in the USA in 2014.

Concise introduction to the life and work of Patrice Lumumba, a leader of the independence struggle in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the country’s first democratically elected prime minister. He was executed by a Katangan firing squad, under Belgian supervision, on January 17, 1961, at the age of thirty-five.

“The contribution [Nzongola-Ntalaja makes] to the literature of Patrice Lumumba, and the Congo, is ironically not concentrating on Lumumba’s iconic Cold War death but instead placing his life and words into the proper cultural, economic, and historical context of Congolese history … [It challenges] us not to dwell on his death but breathe life into his words, because the questions Patrice Lumumba raised about self-determination then are still relevant for all of us today.” Christopher Cook, African Studies Quarterly

“Lumumba…was a pivotal player in the history of African nationalism, in the same league as Mandela in terms of his influence. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja provides an excellent short introduction to Lumumba’s life and historical significance.” David Gibbs, Professor of History, University of Arizona

 Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is Professor of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Professor Emeritus of African Studies at Howard University. He is a past president of the African Studies Association and the author of The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: a people’s history.