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Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72)West African leader. Born on 21 September 1909 in Nkroful in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), in 1935 he went to the United States to study, receiving a bachelor's degree from the black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and doing graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. He went to the London School of Economics in Britain with the intention of studying for a doctorate, but instead became active in the West African Students Union. In addition, he met several black leaders who were campaigning for independence from colonial rule and for a Pan-African movement to bring unity to the continent. In 1945, along with Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, he formed the Pan-African Federation. The two men became role models not only for their countries but for the whole continent. Invited to lead the United Gold Coast Convention, the first political party in the Gold Coast, he returned to Africa in 1947. On 12 June 1949, he founded the more radical Convention People's party, which called for passive resistance to British colonial rule and used strikes in the struggle to achieve independence. Imprisoned in 1950, he managed to lead his party to election victory the following year, and was released to become prime minister of the Gold Coast. After the country achieved independence – and was renamed Ghana – in March 1957, he formed a one-party dictatorship, declaring himself president on 1 July 1960, then president for life in 1962. As the first black African to lead his country to independence, he was known as 'the Redeemer' and 'Africa's Gandhi', inspiring a generation of black African leaders. He supported Egypt's Abdel Nasser and actively encouraged others with his speeches and writings, which include Towards Colonial Freedom (1946), his autobiographical Ghana (1953) and Africa Must Unite (1963). In 1966, however, Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup while he was visiting China. He later travelled to Romania and died there on 27 April 1972. |
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