Essay On King Leopold's Ghost

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King Leopold II of Belgium is known in history for his quest for African colonies and all of the atrocities he caused. Leopold II came to power in when he became King in 1865. When he became King, he was focused on mainly money and territory. King Leopold viewed the Congo as his own personal property, he first claimed the Congo in 1884 during the Berlin Conference, with the Congo Free State being declared in the following year. This became widely known as the European Scramble for Africa. The atrocities that Leopold caused were first exposed by American and British writers amd campaigners. With this publicity spreading, it eventually caused Leopold to hand over the country. In Adam Hochschild’s book, “King Leopold’s Ghost” reveals Leopold’s …show more content…

George Washington Williams was a former soldier graduated from Howard University,with a degree in theology. Williams was also was a newspaper writer, as well as a former politician and historian (Hochschild, 102-105). After George Washington Williams was introduced to Henry Shelton Sanford during his lobbying campaign in Washington, Williams became very interested with the Congo and saw an open opportunity for African-Americans (Hochschild, 105). He met with Leopold for an interview, where he was as enthralled by the king and his Godly mission in Africa, just like many others who had met with the King before (Hochschild, 106). While attempting to recruit young, black Americans for work in the Congo, he was faced with questions regarding life …show more content…

George Washington Williams, the first and perhaps bravest campaigner, initially sounded the alarm, but he was ignored largely because he was African American. Edmund Dene Morel was able to have more success in raising awareness for the Congo when he noticed an imbalance in trade coming in and out of Belgium. As Hochschild shows, not only was Leopold II a monster for what he did in the Congo, but in other areas and with other people of his life (including his wife, his daughters, and virtually everyone he encountered other than, perhaps, his mistress Caroline Lacroix, younger than him by forty-eight years) he was thoroughly amoral and supremely egocentric. He was one of the most reprehensible people of

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