On May 15, 1961, four months after the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, African and Caribbean leaders held a memorial across multiple countries, including Ghana and Guinea. Lumumba had been viewed as a beacon of African sovereignty, brutally silenced by Cold War powers and local rivals. The May 15 memorial events were not only tributes but political calls to resist neocolonialism and foreign intervention. These gatherings influenced solidarity movements and reaffirmed Lumumba’s symbolic power across Africa. His death galvanized anti-colonial resistance and shaped how many saw the struggle—not just as political, but existential. May 15 thus became a day of remembrance and renewed commitment to African self-determination.
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