Kandake Amanirenas was a queen of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush who was best known for skillfully defending her kingdom against the armies of the Roman Empire. Amanirenas was probably born between 60 and 50 B.C. and was the second of the eight Kandakes … Read MoreKandake Amanirenas (?-10 BC)
Jacob Zuma is the 4th president of post-apartheid South Africa and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He held the presidency for nine years from 2009 to 2018 until he was ousted under a shroud of scandals and corruption. Before his presidency, Zuma worked with other African nationalists … Read MoreJacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (1942– )
Image Ownership: Public domain Cyril Ramaphosa is South African businessman and politician who is also the fifth president of South Africa and a member of the African National Congress (ANC), beginning his term on February 15, 2018. Ramaphosa is ranked the 21st wealthiest African in the world with … Read MoreCyril Ramaphosa (1952- )
George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah, the newly elected president of Liberia, was born in the slums of Monrovia, Liberia on October 1, 1966. During his professional sports career he was considered one of the best soccer players on the African continent. For much of his … Read MoreGeorge Weah (1966- )
Image Ownership: Public domain René Préval was a Haitian politician. He was prime minister under the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, exiled to the United States of America, and finally president of Haiti between 1996 and 2001, and 2006 and 2011. René Préval was born on … Read MoreRené/ García Préval, René Préval (1943-2017)
Image Ownership: Public domain Adama Barrow is a Gambian politician and real estate developer who is the third and current president of Gambia. Barrow defeated Yahya Jammeh in the 2016 Gambian presidential election, but because the incumbent president initially refused to recognize the victory, Barrow … Read MoreAdama Barrow (1965- )
William Richard Tolbert Jr. was the twentieth president of Liberia from 1971 to 1980, when he was killed in a coup led by then Liberian Army Sergeant Samuel Doe. Tolbert was trained as a civil servant when he entered Liberia’s House of Representatives in 1943 … Read MoreWilliam Richard Tolbert Jr. (1913–1980)
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first (1848-1856) and seventh (1872-1876) president of Liberia. Roberts was born free in Norfolk, Virginia in 1809, to a mixed-race family; his father was of Welsh origin and his mother, Amelia, was described as a mulatto. His mother married a … Read MoreJoseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876)
Gamal Abdel-Nasser with Fidel Castro in Harlem, New York, 1960 “Image Courtesy of the Schomburg Center” Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the second president of Egypt, was officially appointed on June 23, 1956, and served until his death on September 28, 1970. Before becoming president, Abdel-Nasser was an … Read MoreGamal Hussein Abdel-Nasser (1918–1970)
Muammar al-Qaddafi has been Libyan head of state since 1969 and one of the most controversial and divisive leaders in the Middle East and Africa in the twentieth century. Qaddafi was born in the spring of 1942 to an Arabized Berber family near the Sirt … Read MoreMuammar Al-Qaddafi (1942-2011)
