António Agostinho Neto (1922-1979) was a leading African intellectual and nationalist in the three decades following the close of World War II. A doctor and poet, he was also the president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, directing the armed struggle within Angola against the Portuguese colonial rule, and the first president of the People's Republic of Angola.

António Agostinho Neto was born near the town of Catete, a short distance inland from Luanda, the Angolan capital, on September 17, 1922. As a boy his family lived in Luanda where his father was the pastor of a large Methodist church and his mother was a kindergarten teacher. He was one of the few Africans who received a secondary school education at the famous Silva Correia High School. Neto was quiet, reserved, competent, and a good student. He bought his school books and supplies...