Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), was a prominent Nigerian nationalist and statesman who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966.

He is popularly considered a driving force behind the nation’s independence and came to be known as the “father of Nigerian Nationalism”.

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa  as Prime Minister of Nigeria, he played important roles in the continent’s formative indigenous rule. He was an important leader in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity and creating a cooperative relationship with French speaking African countries.

He was also instrumental in negotiations between Moise Tshombe and the Congolese authorities during the Congo Crisis of 1960–1964. He led a vocal protest against the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 and also entered into an alliance with Commonwealth ministers who wanted South Africa to leave the Commonwealth in 1961.

Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, ( 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987), was a Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria’s independence movement, the First and Second Republics and the Civil War.

He introduced the free Universal Primary Education programme on 17 January, 1955. The positive impacts of this programme are still being felt till date.

Dennis Chukude Osadebay (29 June 1911—26 December 1994) was a Nigerian politician, poet, journalist and former premier of the now defunct Mid-Western Region of Nigeria, which now comprises Edo and Delta State.

As a politician, he detested party politics and tried to form unbiased opinions on important matters of the period. He was also a leader of the movement to create a Mid-Western region during the Nigerian First Republic.

Kwame Nkrumah  (21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary. He was the first prime minister and president of Ghana, having led it to independence from Britain in 1957.

An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation.

Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé military captain, Marxist revolutionary, pan-Africanist and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987.

Viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara”.

Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s.

His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.

Patrice Émery Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960.

He played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist, he led the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party from 1958 until his death.

Margaret Ekpo (June 27, 1914 – September 21, 2006) was a Nigerian women’s rights activist and social mobilizer who was a pioneering female politician in the country’s First Republic and a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists, many of whom rallied women beyond notions of ethnic solidarity.

She played major roles as a grassroot and nationalist politician in the Eastern Nigerian city of Aba, in the era of an hierarchical and male-dominated movement towards independence, with her rise not the least helped by the socialization of women’s role into that of helpmates or appendages to the careers of males.

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (25 October 1900 – 13 April 1978) was a teacher, political campaigner, women’s rights activist and traditional aristocrat of Nigeria. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation.

She was also the first woman in the country to drive a car.

Ransome-Kuti’s political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria, as well as to her being regarded as “The Mother of Africa.” Early on, she was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman’s right to vote.

She was described in 1947, by the West African Pilot as the “Lioness of Lisabi” for her leadership of the women of the Egba people on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation. That struggle led to the abdication of the high king Oba Ademola II in 1949.

Josina Muthemba Machel (August 10, 1945 – April 7, 1971) was a significant figure in the social and political modern history of Mozambique. She was born with a twin brother, Belmiro, in Vilanculos, Inhambane, Mozambique on August 10, 1945 into a family of 5 sisters and 3 brothers.

Her grandfather was a lay Presbyterian evangelist who preached nationalism and cultural identity against European assimilation.

Her father worked as a nurse in government hospitals and this required him to periodically move the family to accommodate his job transfers. At one time or another, Josina, her father, two of her sisters, and two uncles were all jailed as a result of their participation in clandestine opposition to the Portuguese colonial administration. She became a key figure in the Mozambican struggle for independence, promoted the emancipation of African women.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also professionally known as Fela Kuti, or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist, and political maverick.

He has been called “superstar, singer, musician, Panafricanist, polygamist, mystic, legend. During the height of his popularity, he was often hailed as one of Africa’s most “challenging and charismatic music performers.

Ambrose Folorunsho Alli (22 September 1929 – 22 September 1989) was a Nigerian medicalprofessor who served as Executive Governor of the defunct Bendel State of Nigerian (now the Nigerian states of Edo and Delta) between 1979 and 1983.

As he knew and believed in the strength and good the education of a people carries with it, he introduced a sound and free education giving both privileged and non-privileged equal right to education. The positive impacts of this program are still being reaped till date.

Yaa Asantewaa (1840-1921),  is often dubbed as the African Joan of Arc.  She was a politician, war strategist, and political activist.

In 1900, at a time when spirits where low,  she led a rebellion against the British to defend the Golden Stool—the symbol of the Ashanti nation.

The rebellion was eventually quelled by British forces who forced her into exile in the Seychelles, but she remained a symbol of courage and strength in the face of oppression.

Sedick Isaacs was one of the heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. In 1964, he was found guilty of sabotage by the apartheid regime and was sentenced to  12-years in prison on Robbin Island.

His sentence was increased a couple years late, when he was found operating a pirated radio— which helped keep prisoners informed of current events.

While on Robben Island,  Isaac was known for organizing sporting activities to keep the prisoners moral up. He was in fact one of the founders of the  Makana Football Association.

Saad Zaghloul (1859–August 23, 1927), The Founder of Independent Egypt was a politician who served in many ministries of the Egyptian government, and was imprisoned by the British in Malta, but returned to Egypt to complete the revolution in 1919.

Zaghloul then was able to make the Sultan of Egypt (later King) Fuad I convince the British to give Egypt independence with a friendly British-Egyptian relationship and in 1922, Egypt was proclaimed an independent Kingdom, the Kingdom of Egypt with Saad Zaghloul as its Prime Minister.

Ahmed Fuad Pasha (1868–1936) was the first king of modern Egypt and son of the khedive Ismail Pasha . One of the famous national heroes of Egypt, he was educated in Europe and latter returned to Egypt in 1880.

Particularly concerned with military and cultural affairs, he founded the University of Cairo in 1906 and succeeded his brother Hussein as Sultan in 1917.

Gamal Abdel Nasser born on January 15, 1918 , was the President of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970 .

Renowned for his Arab nationalist and anti-colonial foreign policy, Nasser is still seen by many, all over the Arab World as a symbol of Arab dignity and freedom and is one of the well known national heroes of Egypt.

Colonel Ahmed Orabi also known as Urabi Pasha or Orabi Pasha , was an Egyptian army general.

He revolted against the khedive and European domination of Egypt in 1879 in what has become the well-known Urabi Revolt .

A galvanizing speaker, Col. Ahmed Orabi is also a national hero of Egypt.

Mustafa Kamil, an Egyptian journalist and political figure, was a son of an army officer.

Trained as a lawyer at the French law school in Cairo and the Law Faculty at the University of Toulouse in France , he started his career as an Egyptian nationalist by collaborating with the French , the Ottoman sultan, and the Khedive Abbas Hilmi II.

Two months before his death he founded the National Party in December 1907 .

One of the national heroes of Egypt, he is remembered as a zealous patriot and an articulate advocate of Egyptian independence.

Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat also nicknamed ‘the war and the peace man’ succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as the president of Egypt in 1970 and remained in office until he was assassinated in 1981 .

Egypt succeeded in bringing back its occupied land under Sadat’s leadership. He also negotiated a peace treaty with Israel to end a history of conflicts between the two countries which won him a Nobel Prize for peace in 1978 . Considered as the fourth pyramid of Egypt , he served his country with honor and respect becoming one of the famous national heroes of Egypt.

Abd el-Kader (born Sept. 6, 1808, Guetna, near Mascara, Algeria—died May 26, 1883, Damascus, Syria).

Amīr of Mascara (from 1832), the military and religious leader who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their 19th-century struggle against French domination (1840–46).

Anthony Eromosele Enahoro, was one of Nigeria's foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists credited with moving the motion for Nigeria's independence in 1957, has been a life-long supporter of pro-democracy movement in Nigeria.

He was a leader of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)

Mariama Ba (1929-1981) is Senegalese writer and political activist.

In her writing, she denounced the status of women in Senegalese society, violence against women, lack of opportunities for women and polygamy.

She became a staunch advocate for changing laws and traditions that subjugate women.

Amílcar Cabral, one of the greatest anti-colonial leaders of the twentieth century, was born on the 12th of September 1924 in Bafatá, a small town in central Guinea-Bissau.

He was a brilliant revolutionary – the undisputed leader and architect of the struggle to liberate Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde from the yoke of Portuguese colonialism.

Jomo Kenyatta (c.?1897 – 22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to 1978.

He was the country's first black head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic.

Ideologically an African nationalist and conservative, he led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party from 1961 until his death.

Samuel Daniel "Shafiishuna" Nujoma, (born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005.

Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960.

He played an important role as leader of the national liberation movement in campaigning for Namibia's independence from South African rule.

He established the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962 and launched a guerrilla war against the apartheid government of South Africa in 1966, beginning after the United Nations withdrew the mandate for South Africa to govern the territory. Nujoma led SWAPO during the lengthy Namibian War of Independence, which lasted from 1966 to 1989.

Julius Kambarage Nyerere (13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist.

He governed Tanganyika as its Prime Minister from 1961 to 1963 and then as its President from 1963 to 1964.

Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he promoted a political philosophy known as Ujamaa.

Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba (3 August 1903 – 6 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who served as the country's leader from independence in 1956 to 1987.

Prior to that, he played a major role in obtaining independence from France, ending the 75 years old protectorate and earning the title of "Supreme Combatant".

Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917[1] – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Second Vice President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 1999.

He was leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) party, and a member of the Ndebele people (Kalanga).

He was a trades-union leader, who became president of the banned National Democratic Party, and was jailed for ten years by Rhodesia's white minority government.

Haile Selassie I (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and emperor from 1930 to 1974.

He also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 25 May 1963 to 17 July 1964 and 5 November 1966 to 11 September 1967. He was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty.

Murtala Ramat Muhammed was born on 8 November 1938 in Kano, Nigeria. Murtala pursued an aggressive foreign policy with Africa as its centrepiece. On the 11th of January 1976, an extra-ordinary meeting of the OAU Heads of Government was convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to tackle the Angolan question. Murtala made the historic and flamboyant appearance at the conference where he gave the powerful Africa Has Come of Age speech.

The speech was received by a thunderous ovation from the hall, but for many was also the day Muhammed might have sealed his fate.

He was assassinated 34 days after making this speech.

Queen Anna Nzinga (c. 1583 – December 17, 1663), also known as Njinga Mbande or Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande, was a 17th-century queen (muchino a muhatu) of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in Angola.

She came to power as an ambassador after demonstrating an ability to tactfully defuse foreign crises, as she regained control of the Portuguese fortress of Ambaca.

Being the sister of the king, Ngola (King) Mbande, she naturally had an influence on political decisions, when the king assigned her to represent him in peace negotiations with bordering countries. Nzinga assumed control as regent of his young son, Kaza.

Today she is remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic acumen, as well as her brilliant military tactics.

A major street in Luanda is named after her, and a statue of her was placed in Kinaxixi on a square in 2002, dedicated by President Santos to celebrate the 27th anniversary of independence.

Ahmed Sekou Touré (1922-1984), was the first president of Guinea. He is revered across French West Africa for being the first president to have dared to say ‘No‘ to France.

In 1958, French President Charles de Gaulles, under pressure to grant independence to French colonies, organized a constitutional referendum. African colonies had the choice to approve the constitution and be granted gradual independence or become independent right away.

Guinea is the only country that rejected the constitution and demanded its independence.  In a famous speech, Touré said: “It is better to be poor and free, than to live in opulence and be a slave.”