Famous Black Diplomats

Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation and a co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. During his stint with the UN, he launched the UN Global Compact and worked to combat HIV/AIDS. 

Sidney Poitier was a Bahamian-American actor who became the first Afro-Bahamian and Black male actor to receive an Oscar for Best Actor in 1964. In 2009, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His life and work inspired a couple of documentary films, including the 2008 film Sidney Poitier, an Outsider in Hollywood.

The 66th United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made history in 2005 when she became the first female black Secretary of State. She is also the first female to serve as National Security Advisor, a position which she served from 2001 to 2005. One of the most powerful women in the world at one point of time, she has been depicted in Hollywood films.

Andrew Young Jr. is an American activist, politician, and diplomat. Young is best known for his role in the civil rights movement; a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young served as the executive director of a civil rights organization called Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Andrew Young is a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ousmane Sonko is a Senegalese politician and author. In 2019, he became the youngest candidate to contest in the presidential election in Senegal. Ousmane Sonko challenged Macky Sall, the incumbent president, in the 2019 election and is viewed by many as a notable opposition leader to Macky Sall.

Former South African politician Ben Ngubane, a qualified surgeon, has held several important positions in his country, from being the minister of arts and culture to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal. The Inkatha Freedom Party member has also been the South African ambassador to Japan.

The current Kenyan ambassador to France, Judy Wakhungu has previously been a geologist and was the first woman to teach at the University of Nairobi’s geology department. She has been associated with the UNCSTD and has been the Ministry of Energy and Regional Development’s first female geologist.

Nigerian Major General Joseph Nanven Garba gained national attention after announcing the 1975 Nigerian coup d'état on Radio Nigeria that resulted in overthrow of Yakubu Gowon as Head of State. Garba then served as Nigeria's foreign minister. Other significant offices held by him include that of Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy and President of the United Nations General Assembly. 

Apart from being Nigeria’s minister of state for defense, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi has also been the Nigerian ambassador to Togo. The son of former Nigerian military head Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Irons, he was also the first person from the Igbo community to become the Nigerian defense minister.

Mainza Chona was a Zambian diplomat and politician. He is remembered for his service as the Vice-President of Zambia from October 1970 to August 1973. Mainza Chona also served as the first Prime Minister of Zambia from 25 August 1973 to 27 May 1975. He then served as the prime minister again from 20 July 1977 to 15 June 1978. 

Haitian physician and ethnologist Jean Price-Mars was also a leading politician and diplomat who led Haiti as its minister of foreign affairs, worship, and education. He had also been the Haitian ambassador to France and to the UN. Known for his ethnological writings, he coined the term collective bovarysme.

Sudanese diplomat Asma Mohamed Abdalla served as the first female Foreign Minister of Sudan in the ongoing democratic transition in Sudan that started in July 2019. She held office from September 2019 to July 9, 2020 in the Transitional Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. She earlier served as a Sudanese ambassador and was dismissed after 1989 Sudanese coup d'état.