The reason why I chose “Congo free State” as my topic was because I wanted to explore histories related to Africa. At first, I chose East Africa: Ethiopia but then Ms.Moye recommended me to do Congo Free State instead of the one I originally was doing. However, I am very pleased to be able to do this topic as it’s a very valuable event that I will forever remember. Especially when I’ve learnt that more than 15 million Congolese died at the hands of Leopold. I didn’t hesitate to research more on this topic because I really want to make this into a project to educate others about this tragedy. After exploring things on the internet about Congo free State, I understood that this historical event is very important as it shaped the modern DRC today.
I used a book named, “King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa” to conduct my research and some other sources I used were found in the bibliography list at the back of the book. They were particularly helpful because they were primary sources. Therefore, I was able to have a strong connection with the author. The content I mainly wrote about were the activists involved and the reports they wrote.
I chose a website instead of other project presentation choices because I wanted to make something more appealing. When I use a website to talk about my project, I believe more people would be interested. I used Google Sites for my project and another reason I chose to use a website to present my project is because it’s more likely to grab the audience’s attention because they can explore different categories on the website. If I used a board to present my topic they could see everything and it wouldn’t look that appealing.
My project is related to the NHD theme for the reason of the Congolese who were in the Congo that tried to resist Leopold's colonization. One of the examples I’ve given in my project was a ethnic group led by a leader named Nzanzu that tried to fight back the Force Publique. Later on, there were more activists from other countries that noticed the brutality in Congo and made open letters for the public to see. These actions that locals and foreign activists made made this historical event significant as it was the greatest scandal in history. After reading tons of reports and actions people took to expose Leopold II, it helped me learn that it’s crucial for people to be aware of what’s happening around them.