Patrice Émery Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was assassinated on January 17, 1961, six months after the country had gained independence from seventy-five years of Belgian colonial rule on June 30, 1960. Lumumba was murdered directly by the Belgian government and Congolese rebels with the indirect help of the United States and the United Nations. In the context of the Cold War, Lumumba, who had intended to nationalize Western mining interests in Katanga, was perceived as a threat to the United States and its allies. His body was subsequently exhumed and dissolved in sulfuric acid, allegedly supplied by the Belgian mining company Union Minière du Haut Katanga, denying the Congolese a grave to mourn.
The assassination of Lumumba and the disappearance of his body has led to a proliferation of his image across the arts, making up for this physical absence—so alleges...