AFRICA DAY

Every year on May 25, the Organization of African Unity celebrates its founding. This celebration was formerly known as African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day. It is a day for Africans and those who support Africa to demonstrate to the world that the continent is a power to be reckoned with and that, after centuries of being disparaged and denigrated, the time has come for African youth to define the Africa they want, on their terms.

A founding charter was signed by the heads of 30 of Africa's 32 independent republics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 25, 1963. To help numerous African nations achieve transformation, freedom, and independence, the O.A.U. was founded. The O.A.U. founded the African Economic Community in 1991, and in 2002, it founded the African Union. The O.A.U. has welcomed a total of 21 nations since its founding.

South Africa became the 53rd member on May 23, 1994. Following the first Conference of Independent African States on April 15, 1958, African Liberation Day or African Freedom Day was observed in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Ghana. In Ghana, this holiday was replaced in 1963 by African Unity Day. The name and date of Africa Day have been kept, even though it has been renamed the African Union. Africa Day offers a chance to recognize the people and governments of Africa. Africa is home to many different languages.

Every African nation, with the exception of Ethiopia, has one of the following official languages: Arabic, English, Portuguese, or French. And, every nation in Africa, with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, was colonized by Europe. One of the colonizers' official languages persisted after the colonized gained independence. Liberia was established by African-American settlers in 1847 and later made English its official language. Despite Italy's brief occupation of Ethiopia prior to World War II, it was never colonized.

You might be wondering what motivated this union.

Following the end of World War II, Africans made unprecedented efforts to decolonize their continent and achieve greater political freedom. As a result, between 1945 and 1965, a significant number of African nations achieved independence from European colonial powers, with Ghana becoming the first African nation south of the Sahara to do so on March 6, 1957, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah. Therein, Ghana's independence served as an example to other African nations fighting colonial rule, and Ghana was instrumental in achieving this goal.

On April 15, 1958, Ghana called the first Conference of Independent African States to order, one year after gaining its independence. Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan, Liberia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco were among the African nations represented, along with representatives of the Union of Cameroonian Peoples and the National Liberation Front of Algeria. As the first Pan-African liberation conference to be held on the continent, the conference served as a platform for the explicit assertion of Africa's rejection of colonial and imperialist domination of the continent. It brought together different African countries. Additionally, the first African Freedom Day—later known as Africa Day—was observed at the meeting.

This day and every day on the continent of Africa should maintain the memory of colonization, so it may not happen again. Africa was once free and should remain free from any outside group, special interest, or organized government outside its own indigenous land to rule or manage the people, natural resources, trade, or policies. The countries of this great continent must maintain proper unity, by sticking together, for you are forever sisters and brothers. Everyone on this earth should have the right to rule themselves with the innate intelligence they are born with.  

Freedom does not need an ambassador, it needs room to grow and flourish.