39 Facts About Antoine-Roger Bolamba

Antoine-Roger Bolamba, later Bolamba Lokole J'ongungu, was a Congolese journalist, writer, and politician.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba edited the monthly journal La Voix du Congolais from 1945 until 1959.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba served as Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs of the Republic of the Congo in 1960 and then as Minister of Information and Tourism from 1963 until 1964.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba gained public attention in 1939 after winning awards for his writing.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba held much influence in the city of Leopoldville and frequently discussed the social implications of colonialism.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba began writing poetry, and in 1956 he released a collection entitled Esanzo: Chants pour mon pays, which articulated his Mongo and Congolese identity.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba, a self-described liberal, grew increasingly involved in politics and founded the Parti de l'Independance et de la Liberte.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba began to employ more violent imagery in his writing.

Under Cyrille Adoula's premiership, Antoine-Roger Bolamba returned to government work, holding advisory and staffing responsibilities until his appointment as Minister of Information and Tourism in April 1963.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba thereafter held press and administrative responsibilities for the office of the presidency, while his output of literature decreased.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba was born on 27 July 1913 in Boma, Belgian Congo to a Mongo family from Coquilhatville.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba's father was a career soldier in the Force Publique.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba received six years of primary education from the Colonie Scolaire de Boma, a school managed by the Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes, before going to the local school for assistant clerks for one year.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba then attended the Ecole des Assistants Medicaux a Leopoldville-Kintambo for two years.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba subsequently worked for 14 years as chief clerk and secretary to the medical director of the Fonds Reine Elisabeth pour l'Assistance Medicale aux Indigenes.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba became a member of the evolue social class.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba performed well as a student, taking keen interest in literature.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba won the first prize in a contest organised by the Association des Amis de l'Art Indigene for his work Les Adventures de Ngoy, le heros legendaire des Bangala.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba's success brought him a considerable amount of public attention.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba contributed articles to several Congolese periodicals, including Band, Brousse, and Nsango ya bisu, the official journal of the Force Publique.

In October 1944 Antoine-Roger Bolamba was hired by the Services d'Information du Gouvernement General to serve as president of its press section.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba submitted guest columns to La Voix's rival, the Catholic newspaper La Croix du Congo.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba criticised racist elements of colonial projects but advocated for the teaching of French and Latin in Congolese schools, as he believed that instruction in indigenous languages would be of less use.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba stated that boys and girls should be treated equally in the educational system.

In 1947 Antoine-Roger Bolamba published Premiers Essais, a collection of poems he had previously printed in La Voix du Congolais.

Two years later Antoine-Roger Bolamba published another poetry collection, Esanzo: Chants pour mon pays.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba attended the Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris from 19 until 22 September 1956.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba has chosen his own, independent path and only the ideology of post-World War II African nationalism can be said to link him to the Negritude writers.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba frequently advocated for public discussion of the issues of colonisation in the Congo in his editorials for La Voix du Congolais.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba praised the decision and was himself awarded a carte.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba became the first African to be appointed assistant private secretary to Belgium's Minister of the Colonies, holding the post from September 1956 until October 1957.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba encouraged evolues to join civic associations and served as president of the Association des Anciens Eleves des Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes, vice-president of the Mouvement Cultural Belgo-Congolais, member of the consultative committee for Emissions africaines de Radio Congo Belge, member of the regional committee of the Office des Cites Africaines, and member of the consultative committee for the Fonds du Roi.

In 1959 Antoine-Roger Bolamba was appointed Director-General of Service in the Commissariat of Information.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba later explained that he did this because Lumumba supported national unity, though he still identified himself primarily as a liberal.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba was appointed by Prime Minister Lumumba to serve as Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs in his government of the newly independent Republic of the Congo.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba made numerous anti-Belgian broadcasts over Radio Leopoldville during his tenure.

In February 1966 Antoine-Roger Bolamba was appointed Head of the Press Office of the Presidency.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba changed his name to Bolamba Lokole J'ongungu in 1972 in accordance with President Mobutu Sese Seko's policy of Authenticite.

Antoine-Roger Bolamba died on 9 July 2002 at the Ngaliema Clinic in Kinshasa.