History Research Fellow

He founded the MNC in 1958 to demand independence from Belgium.

He became the first Prime Minister of the DR Congo on June 30, 1960, after his party won the most votes.

The problem is that he delivered a famous, defiant speech on Independence Day directly addressing Belgian King Baudouin about the suffering and racism of colonial rule.

His government faced immediate challenges, including a mutiny in the army and the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province, backed by Belgian interests.

When the UN failed to assist in ending the secession, Lumumba requested support from the Soviet Union (Now Russia), leading the U.S. and Belgium to view him as a communist threat.

He was dismissed by President Kasavubu, arrested, and executed in January 1961.

To hide the evidence, his body, along with those of his associates was later dug up, dismembered, and dissolved in sulfuric acid, with remaining parts burned.

The worst is that they used his own country men, Mobutu, Tshombe etc, to get him down.

Lumumba is remembered as a martyr for African independence, often quoted for his conviction that Africa should write its own history.

Was He Really the “Last of His Kind” — Or a Story Told the Wrong Way?

In 1931, reports began to circulate from the Dades Valley near Skoura in Morocco about a man named Azzo Bassou.

Local residents had long known of him. He lived in a cave, survived on raw meat, and used only the simplest tools available in his environment.

When colonial observers encountered him, they described a man who moved mostly unclothed, spoke only a few unclear words, and appeared socially withdrawn.

What drew the most attention were his physical features. Witnesses noted a receding forehead, a protruding jaw, a broad nose, and unusually long arms that extended close to his knees.

By 1956, French writer Jean Boulet, alongside ethnologist Marcel Gomet, travelled to document his condition more formally.

Early scientific observers, influenced by the racial theories of the time, compared aspects of his skull to prehistoric remains associated with Neanderthals.

European tabloids quickly branded him “the missing link” and presenting him as evidence of a living prehistoric human.

Subsequent medical examination showed no link to any ancient human species

Instead, researchers concluded that Bassou most likely suffered from Microcephaly, a condition that affects brain development, physical features, and speech.

The problem is that these claims rested more on colonial imagination.

The question is

Was this about science, or about how Africa was being seen at the time?.

But strip away the noise, one thing remains clear.

Azzo Bassou was a man of that soil, living with a condition, observed at a time when Africa was too often explained, instead of understood.

When journalists were at the receiving end of allegations of stoking the flames of communal tensions, here is Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, a man who drew a clear line in the sand against elements seeking to undermine religious harmony, national unity, and more importantly; humanity. He was born this day in 1890. His humble means made him a Hero in Indian History. Credit: ,