THE FORGOTTEN BLACK HEROES OF AFRICAN.

GINA WEEKEND COLUMN,
By
Habibu Gente
Date: Saturday 20, 2016

As there are warlords and warlike warriors, so are distinguished heroes of artistry and revolutionary. Personalities who fought a pen war against our oppressors for decades they leave their homes comfort and Hospitable environment, to traveled far across the sea of  disparity and trials to finally climb the mountains of opposition searching a whole new life of the generations to come. All these they do for us just to have a decent living with freedom of choice. Its so pathetic that their names fallout from our mouths, and historians did not earn them a place in their history books. Many of them left us long while just few remain with us today. Brave men like Frantz fanon, kwame Nkrumah, kofi annan, Aminu kano. Etc .
   Still the rule applied, i read about many brave men, fighters who struggle with their precious lives in the defence of their kingdoms and people against the colonial power. But when i come across these particular heroes ( to me they are heroes more than those who fought with weapons like guns, archer, and other deadly ammunition). I told myself if the world left these such of heroes to take the lead in battle fronts, we will be living in a world of peaceful but intellectual where pens and intellect will do the upheaval. Of course there may be those who will disagree with my conclusion as to these men to be heroes of African, but even if you have to. For sure your reasoning will spare me atleast to include one of them.
                     FRANTZ OMAR FANON
 Born: 20, July 1925
 Died: 6, December 1961
 Era:   20th century philosophy
 School: Maxian existentialism
 Influence: Karl marx, Aime Cesaire, Negritude.


                 BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Frantz Omar Fanon  was a
Martinique -born Afro-Caribbean
psychiatrist, philosopher ,
revolutionary ,was a
Martinique -born Afro-Caribbean
psychiatrist, philosopher ,
revolutionary , and writer whose works are influential in the fields of post-colonial studies , critical theory , and
Marxism .As an intellectual, Fanon was a political radical , Pan-Africanist , and a Marxist humanist concerned with the psychopathology of
colonization , and the human, social, and cultural consequences of
decolonization .
In the course of his work as a physician and psychiatrist, Fanon supported the Algerian War of Independence from France, and was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front . For more than four decades, the life and works of Frantz Fanon have inspired national liberation movements and other radical political organisations in Palestine , Sri Lanka , the U.S. and South Africa.  One more fascinating thing about this great man was his book written "Wreched of the Earth".

                     KWAME NKRUMAH

Born:18, September 1909
Died: 27, April 1972
 Political party: United Gold coast convention (1947-1949).
Occupation: Activist, politician


                BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Kwame Nkrumah  led Ghana to independence from Britain in 1957 and served as its first prime minister and president . Nkrumah first gained power as leader of the colonial Gold Coast , and held it until he was deposed in 1966.
An influential 20th-century advocate of
Pan-Africanism , he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.
Nkrumah was an activist student, organizing a group of expatriate African students in Pennsylvania and building it into the African Students Association of America and Canada, becoming its president. Some members felt that the group should aspire for each colony to gain independence on its own; Nkrumah urged a Pan-African strategy. Nkrumah played a major role in the Pan-African conference held in New York in 1944, which urged the United States, at the end of the Second World War , to help ensure Africa became independent states.

One his memorable quote that always cultivate and inspired most of African leaders and freedom fighter, whenever there is need for African liberation. Its speech he delivered in pan-Africanism  conference. It goes like this "Just as in the days of the Egyptians, so today God had ordained that certain among the African race should journey westwards to equip themselves with knowledge and experience for the day when they would be called upon to return to their motherland and to use the learning they had acquired to help improve the lot of their brethren . . . I had not realized at the time that I would contribute so much towards the fulfillment of this prophecy".

   These brave men impact will continued to inspired and encouraged us as young Africans in the course of searching our identity as blacks people.