Birthday of Andrée Blouin

Radicalized by the untimely, unnecesary death of her two year old son Rene, who was denied medicine by the French colonial government of Ubangi-Shari (later Central African Republic) for the treatment of malaria because quinine was for Europeans only, Andrée Blouin went on to become an important African revolutionary and anti-colonial activist. She worked in support of multiple independence movements including for Sékou Touré in Guinea, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, and famously was chief of protocol in Patrice Lumumba's government in the Republic of Congo. After being expelled from Guinea for her activism, she organized women for the Parti Solidaire Africain, an organization in Belgian Congo which sought liberation from colonial rule. She was instrumental in helping Lumumba including writing speeches for him. A lifelong socialist and African nationalist, we honor her struggle and work today.