Congolese Independence Speech

Men and women of the Congo, victorious fighters for independence, today victorious, I greet you in the name of the Congolese Government.

For this independence of the Congo, even as it is being celebrated today with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it is by struggle that it has been won, a day-to-day struggle, an ardent and idealistic struggle, a struggle in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood.

We have known harassing work, exacted in exchange for salaries which did not permit us to eat enough to drive away hunger, or to clothe ourselves, or to lodge our families decently, or to bring up our children as creatures who are dear to us.

We have known ironies, insults, blows that we had to undergo morning, honor, and night, because we were Black men. Who will forget that to a Black man they used the familiar form of address, not indeed as to a friend, but because the honorable form of address was reserved for White men alone?

Together, my brothers, my sisters, we are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity, and greatness. We are going to show the world what the Black man can do when he works in freedom!