Statecraft & Independence
Kwame Nkrumah
1909 – 1972
Led the Gold Coast to independence and became Ghana's first leader
Why they are here
He led the Gold Coast out of British rule in 1957, making Ghana the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence, and turned that moment into an argument the whole continent took up.
Nkrumah became the Gold Coast's first prime minister when it merged with British Togoland to become independent Ghana in 1957, and the country's first president when it became a republic in 1960. He held that office until February 1966, when the army and police deposed him while he was abroad on a peace mission to Hanoi.
His reach went well past Ghana. A founding member of the Organisation of African Unity and the best-known advocate of Pan-Africanism of his generation, he argued that independence for one African country meant little while others remained colonies. He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.
His own birth date is uncertain. The priest who baptised him recorded 21 September 1909, the date used officially; Nkrumah himself later reckoned he had probably been born in September of that year on a different day.
His reach went well past Ghana. A founding member of the Organisation of African Unity and the best-known advocate of Pan-Africanism of his generation, he argued that independence for one African country meant little while others remained colonies. He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.
His own birth date is uncertain. The priest who baptised him recorded 21 September 1909, the date used officially; Nkrumah himself later reckoned he had probably been born in September of that year on a different day.
- Britannica — Kwame Nkrumah
- New York Public Library — Kwame Nkrumah biography
- Encyclopaedia Africana — Nkrumah, Kwame
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