This is the second on a series I have found from 1971-72 trips of French President Pompidou to nine African states in February and March 1971 and then Upper Volta and Togo in December 1972.
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Eyadéma & Pompidou, 1972
Author: TommyMiles
Part of a collection of three from independence era Freetown, this commemorates the April 1958 Conference of Independent African States, convened by President Kwame Nkrumah in Accra, Ghana. It was the first summit of post-colonial African leaders, which paved the way for the OAU, and the precursor to the now more celebrated All-African Peoples’ Conference, held in December of the same year.
President Houphouët-Boigny, from beginning as a powerful anti-colonial leader from a chiefly family quickly became a figure of stability and conservatism. This print from the mid-60s exemplified independence, freedom, but also paradoxically, Frenchness and continuity.
Welcome to my collection of commemorative African printed textiles. In this essay from 2013 I try to give a history of what they are, and why I think they’re so much more important than colorful cloths.