1945 - Pan-African Congress Prepares for Global Impact

On May 20, 1945, planning intensified for the historic Fifth Pan-African Congress, which would be held in Manchester later that year. Led by George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, and W.E.B. Du Bois, this congress marked a decisive moment in global Black activism. The date represents the early logistical coordination that brought together labor leaders, intellectuals, and anti-colonial activists from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Unlike prior congresses dominated by elites, the 1945 event emphasized mass movements and working-class leadership. May 20 captures the strategic build-up of a conference that would shape the post-colonial future of Africa. It’s a date to remember when radical Black thought and organizing transcended borders to envision liberation on a global scale. The Congress laid intellectual and political groundwork for the independence of over a dozen African nations in the subsequent two decades.