Exposing the Crimes

Leopold never set foot in the Congo, yet its rubber profits paid for grand palaces and public buildings in Belgium that tourists admire today without knowing their origin.

The truth surfaced through two outsiders. British diplomat Roger Casement toured the region and documented the brutality in an official report. Activist E.D. Morel then built the Congo Reform Association, often called the first international human-rights movement, which used photographs and public meetings to force the world to look.