The Life of Patrice Lumumba

Patrice Lumumba

The biography, Patrice Lumumba, is a detailed and precise biography of its highly influential and prestigious African nationalist namesake. Written by Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaia, it critically examines the life, political career, and ultimate assassination of Lumumba as a Congolese politician and leader in African nationalism. Through out this piece of literature, Nzongola-Ntalaia, ties together the tapestry of Congolese and African history as it both shapes and is shaped by Lumumba; he discusses in depth the critical moments in Lumumba’s life that lead to his illustrious career as a civil servant and politician, and delicately ties together the intricacies of the political systems in place at the time as Lumumba disrupted them and, unfortunately, paid the price of standing by what he believed and what he dreamed Africa could become. The following essay will enter into the identity of Patrice Lumumba, his importance, his assassination, and his political legacy in order to better understand the important role he played in shaping the African continent and identity.

The first chapter reviews Lumumba’s early years. He was born in Onalua in 1925. Throughout the chapter, Lumumba’s unsuccessful attempts to finish a traditional education in the Catholic and Protestant schools are examined; while there, he was exposed to Western Christian missionaries, both Catholic and Methodist; the former being heavily tied to the Belgian state, and the latter being heavily tied to their white supremacy beliefs. In him seeing the way that they treated African nationals, he saw that they were simply puppets for Belgian authority to rule and reign over it colonial citizens. This is thought to be where the origin of his political leanings towards the Liberal party over the Catholics within the Belgian politic circle began. Rather than get conscripted into the war effort against the Axis powers, he sought to leave the rural area that he was born into in order to secure better employment rather than fight in the European’s war. In 1944, Lumumba left Onalua in order to find better opportunities in Kalima as a sales clerk at a major mining company before leaving for Ubundu and then to Kisangani. Lumumba’s early life demonstrated his mental acuity and hardworking attitude, as well as embodied his distrust in educational authority in every school he attended, as he could no suffer the foolishness he believed present there. Also, his love for African culture was displayed in the way that he cared for traditional African dance, so much so, that he was willing to continue to perform and study it unto his expulsion from one of the Catholic schools.

The second chapter examines the importance of Lumumba’s civil service career and his political aspirations in Kisangani. Later in 1944, Lumumba worked as a clerk for the local colonial administration in the post service. Since he did not have a traditional