South African police opened fire on a crowd protesting pass laws at Sharpeville, killing 69 people; the ANC and PAC were subsequently banned.
In 1960, seventeen African countries gained independence, most of them former French colonies along with Nigeria, Somalia and the Congo.
Immediately after independence from Belgium, the Congo descended into secession, foreign intervention and civil war, ending when Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in 1965.
Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo, was deposed, captured and executed in Katanga, with the involvement of Katangan secessionist authorities and Belgian officials.
The British Gold Coast became independent Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah, the first sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence after World War II.
Leaders of 32 independent African states founded the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa to promote unity and end colonialism on the continent.
Kenya became independent from Britain following the Mau Mau uprising, with Jomo Kenyatta as its first prime minister and later president.