My Country, Africa

Andrée Blouin—once called the most dangerous woman in Africa—played a leading role in the struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and ’60s, advising the postcolonial leaders of Algeria, both Congos, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Ghana. In this autobiography, Blouin retraces her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary. Born in French Equatorial Africa and abandoned at the age of three, she endured years of neglect and abuse in a colonial orphanage, which she escaped after being forced by nuns into an arranged marriage at fifteen. She later became radicalized by the death of her two-year-old son, who was denied malaria medication by French officials because he was one-quarter African. In Guinea, where Blouin was active in Sékou Touré’s campaign for independence, she came into contact with leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy up close as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba, whose arrest and assassination she narrates in unforgettable detail. Blouin offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, capturing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movement’s leaders, Blouin provides insights into the often-overlooked contribution of African women in the struggle for independence.

Andrée Blouin was a central figure in the struggles for decolonization that swept Africa in the 1950s and 1960s. Her activism gave her a front-row seat to the triumph and tragedy of national liberation movements across the continent.

Introduction Editor’s Note Part I 1 From the Village to the Orphanage 2 Years of Misery, a Week of Happiness 3 Coming of Age Brings New Terrors 4 Flight to a New Life 5 Hard Days Precede First Love 6 Africa Unfolds, My Life Takes a Turn 7 My Rita and My Father 8 Grueling Enterprises and Tragedy 9 A Funeral and a Marriage 10 Europe and My Great Love 11 Siguiri, Land of Gold and Thirst 12 Little Joséphine, My Own Maman Part II 13 Destiny Calls, My Political Work Begins 14 Healing the Breach between African Brothers 15 An Invitation to Help the Congo’s Women 16 A Perilous Campaign in the Brush 17 Ominous Developments Surround Lumumba 18 Expulsion on the Eve of Independence 19 The Protocol and the Escape 20 The Congo Catastrophe 21 Betrayal Everywhere 22 Lumumba’s Downfall and Ruin 23 My Africa, My Joséphine Epilogue Postface Index