Editing Joseph Kasa-Vubu (section)

== Early life ==
Joseph Kasa-Vubu was born in the village of Kuma-Dizi in the [[Mayombe]] district in the [[Bas-Congo]], in the west of the [[Belgian Congo]]. Different sources list his year of birth as 1910, 1913, 1915, or 1917, though 1915 is the most probable date.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} He was the eighth of nine children in a family of the [[Yombe people]], an ethnic group that is a subset of the [[Kongo people]]. His father was a successful farmer who, as an independent entrepreneur, traded with street merchants in [[Cabinda Province|Cabinda]] and built his house at the outskirts of the village. This earned him the animosity of the villagers and in an attempt to assuage their hostility he volunteered to undergo a "poison test" with a substance extracted from a kasa tree.{{efn|The poison from a kasa tree was used to determine whether or not a person was a witch.{{sfn|Morris|2006|p=157}} According to biographer Charles-André Gilis, the test occurred on the day of Kasa-Vubu's birth.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=218}}}} The word "Kasa" was appended onto his name in commemoration of the event.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|pp=217–218}} Kasa-Vubu's mother died four years after his birth, and his father died in 1936. On 31 January 1925 he was [[Baptism|baptised]] under the Christian name of Joseph at the [[CICM Missionaries|Scheutist]] Catholic mission of Kizu, near [[Tshela]].{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=219}}

In 1927 Kasa-Vubu enrolled in primary school at the third-year level. The following year he transferred to a [[minor seminary]] in Mbata-Kiela, 50 kilometers away from Tshela. There he completed his primary studies and began learning Latin and humanities in preparation for instruction at [[major seminary]]. An industrious student, Kasa-Vubu graduated second in his class in 1936 and was admitted to the Kabwe seminary in [[Kasaï region|Kasai Province]]. He intended to study three years of philosophy and five years of theology before becoming an ordained priest. Following the completion of the former courses in 1939 he was expelled by the bishop.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=219}}{{efn|No official reasoning was ever given for Kasa-Vubu's expulsion, though Gilis and Kasa-Vubu's daughter, [[Justine Kasa-Vubu|Justine]], attribute this to his alleged commitment to an academic pursuit of justice that ran afoul of his teachers' ideals.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=219}}}}

Kasa-Vubu subsequently returned to Mayombe and took up work as a bookkeeper for the Kangu mission. Dissatisfied with his salary of 80 francs per month, Kasa-Vubu passed the instructor's exam and became a sixth-grade teacher at the mission school in early 1941. However, his pay was not increased and he left the mission in open disagreement with the superior and the local bishop. In May he found a new job at Agrifor, an agricultural and logging company. With a monthly pay of 500 francs, he felt financially secure enough to marry; on 10 October Kasa-Vubu wedded Hortense Ngoma Masunda in a Catholic ceremony at the Kangu mission. They had nine children.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=219}}

In June 1942 Kasa-Vubu earned a job as a clerk in the finance department of the Belgian colonial administration in [[Kinshasa|Léopoldville]], the capital of the Congo. He worked there for 15 years,{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=219}} attaining the rank of chief clerk, the highest level of employment available to Congolese civil servants under Belgian rule.{{sfn|Reuters|1969}} In 1956 he was in charge of accounting for all of the administration's general stores.{{sfn|Biographie belge d'outre-mer|2015|p=220}}

=== Political activities ===
Kasa-Vubu began semi-clandestine political organising work while he was still employed by colonial authorities.{{sfn|Tanner|1961}}

Following the resignation of its leader on 21 March 1954, Kasa-Vubu was elected president of the [[ABAKO|Alliance des Bakongo]] (ABAKO).{{sfn|Covington-Ward|2012|p=75}} Under his leadership, the group swept the first open municipal Leopoldville elections in 1957 and he was elected mayor of the [[Kasa-Vubu, Kinshasa|Dendale district]] of the city.{{sfn|Reuters|1969}}

Kasa-Vubu quickly became known as one of the first Congolese leaders to call for independence. At first, he advocated for independence from Belgium on a 30-year timeline, but he shortened the timetable as the ABAKO movement gained in strength.{{sfn|Tanner|1961}} In his inauguration speech as mayor of Dendale, Kasa-Vubu reiterated his demand for independence, drawing a reprimand from Belgian colonial authorities, which only strengthened his image as a Congolese leader.{{sfn|Reuters|1969}}

On 4 January 1959, an ABAKO political gathering organised by Kasa-Vubu erupted into violence, sparking the [[Léopoldville riots]], a pivotal moment in the Congolese struggle for independence. Kasa-Vubu was set to address the crowd on [[African nationalism]], but colonial authorities banned the meeting. They were unable to calm the crowd and thousands of Congolese began rioting. Kasa-Vubu was arrested, along with several other leaders, and imprisoned for inciting the riot. He was released two months later.{{sfn|Reuters|1969}}