1960 — The UN Declares Colonialism Must End

On December 14, 1960, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 1514 — the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Its words were thunder: colonialism must end, speedily and unconditionally. Sponsored by forty-three African and Asian nations, it passed eighty-nine to none, with nine abstentions.

Among those abstaining were Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, apartheid South Africa, and the United States — the powers with the most to lose. The declaration became the legal and moral backbone of African decolonization, a touchstone for every liberation movement. Colonized peoples now held a text, passed by the world's assembly, that said in plain terms their freedom was a right, not a favor.