Antoine-Roger Bolamba
In 1944 he was hired by the colonial government to manage its press division, and the following year he was made editor-in-chief of a new publication, La Voix du Congolais.
He also began writing poetry, and in 1956 he released a collection entitled Esanzo: Chants pour mon pays, which articulated his Mongo and Congolese identity.
Though he failed to secure a parliamentary seat in the 1960 elections, he was appointed Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs in the Congo's first independent government.
Under Cyrille Adoula's premiership, Bolamba returned to government work, holding advisory and staffing responsibilities until his appointment as Minister of Information and Tourism in April 1963.
Bolamba subsequently worked for 14 years as chief clerk and secretary to the medical director of the Fonds Reine Elisabeth pour l'Assistance Médicale aux Indigénes.
[5] "[Bolamba] did not hesitate a moment to show the whites the dangers that there were in confining to rigorous, unhumanitarian attitudes, contrary to the doctrine of their civilization; to the blacks, to say the incontestable value of their traditions and customs, the ridicule of their alienation; to one and the other, to reveal the way of deep humanity and friendship, is always possible".
[9] He also contributed articles to several Congolese periodicals, including Band, Brousse, and Nsango ya bisu, the official journal of the Force Publique.
[15] As a journalist, Bolamba held considerable influence in the capital of the Belgian Congo, Léopoldville, and expressed deep insight into the sociological issues of colonialism.
[16] He criticised racist elements of colonial projects[9] 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.
[18] While La Voix did publish criticism of colonialism, it generally abridged or rebutted the more severe appraisals that were submitted and Bolamba declared that it would not print harsh, anonymous contributions.
This led to accusations that the paper was merely a propaganda organ of the colonial state, which Bolamba rejected in his editorials, arguing that it was a proponent of évolués' concerns.
[19] In 1947 Bolamba published Premiers Essais (First Attempts), a collection of poems he had previously printed in La Voix du Congolais.
[16][20] The following year Bolamba released a 176-page paper about African women's issues, entitled Les problemes de l'evolution de la femme noire (The Problems of the Evolution of the Black Woman),[9] which offered a description of an ideal modern black woman and included advice pertaining to social and domestic behavior.
[21] In 1949 and 1950 he made submissions to the creative writing contest of the Conference on African Studies at the International Fair in Ghent, though he did not win any awards.
[28] According to Congolese literary critic Kadima Nzuji Mukala, Bolamba was one of the "most important and representative" French-language writers in Belgian Africa.
[8] Nzuji Mukala stated that Bolamba's "only intrinsic contribution to the early growth of Congolese literature in French" was Esanzo, praising it as "a highly original achievement".
"[20] Franco-Senegalese poet David Diop believed Esanzo contained nonpolitical poetry and suggested that Bolamba, though aware of the Négritude movement, avoided engaging the highly politicised style out of "prudence".
"[31] Africanist scholar Willfried Feuser said, "Bolamba's Chant du soir is quite charming, but...his imagery lacks the power and density of his fellow-Congolese from the Brazzaville side of the river, Felix Gerard Tchicaya U Tam'si.
"[33] Bolamba frequently advocated for public discussion of the issues of colonisation in the Congo in his editorials for La Voix du Congolais.
[35] The colonial administration introduced a carte du mérite civique (civic merit card) the following year,[36] which could be granted to any Congolese who had no criminal record, did not practice polygamy, abandoned traditional religion, and had some degree of education.
"[42] Bolamba became the first African to be appointed assistant private secretary to Belgium's Minister of the Colonies,[3] holding the post from September 1956 until October 1957.
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.
[50] Under Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula he returned to government work, serving as chef de cabinet in the Ministry of the Post Office and Telecommunications.
[10] Ten years later he became the director of national press of and adviser to the office of the President-Founder of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution.
