James L. Hope joins Congo Live! to discuss his time in the Congo and the current situation in Baltimore. He was also in the Congo in the 1960s and kept the tradition alive of supporting liberation movement on the African continent. We will also discuss current affairs in Baltimore.

Bio:

James L. Hope is the International Advisor of the African Scientific Institute (ASI). He first set foot on the African Continent in 1951 when his ship stopped in Alexandria, Egypt on its way to Beirut, Lebanon where he took up residence and attended school. Over the years Mr. Hope assisted in the establishment of the National School of Law and Administration (ENDA) in what was then the newly independent Republic of Congo (now DRC).

While there, he also provided materiel and logistical support for the Pan-Africanist Congress of South Africa – which was the only South African liberation movement operating outside of South Africa at the time – and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) which at the time was recognized by the OAU as the true and legitimate representative of the Angolan liberation effort.

Upon his return to his birthplace, Washington, D.C. he joined the African-American Institute (AAI) which had been established by his friends Dr. William Leo Hansberry, William Steen and Thurlow Tibbs. While at the AAI Mr. Hope ran a scholarship program for leaders from the unliberated territories of Africa, many of whom he had met earlier as they passed through the liberation exile center in Kinshasa that was financed by President Kwame Nkruma and hosted by the FNLA.