Top 5 African Leaders Who Helped End Colonialism

Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania. Photo credit: Africland Forum

Julius Nyerere, Tanzania

RELATED STORIES

National Black Theatre Dedicates 49TH Season to Modern-Day Black Storytellers

Guevedoces: The Girls Who Grow Penises and Become Boys in a Caribbean Village

Marcus Garvey Presents His "Back to Africa" Program in New York This Day in 1920

New Foundation Will Honor the Legacy of African-American Distiller Nearis Green Who Was Left Out of History Books Until Recently

Also known as “Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere”, Julius Nyerere was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, political theorist and politician, who governed Tanganyika (now Tanzania) as its Prime Minister from 1961 and 1963, and then president from 1964 until 1985.

Born in Butiama, Tanganyika in in 1922, Nyerere studied at Makerere College in Uganda and at Edinburgh University in Britain. Before joining politics, the young Nyerere served as a primary school teacher in a local mission school. In 1954, he led the Tanganyika African National Union to obtaining independence for Tanganyika.