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Dr Kwame Nkrumah
Ghana (originally called The Gold Coast) was the first sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence from British rule and this was done under the leadership of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the man considered to be the father figure of Pan-Africanism.
Nkrumah was born on the 21st of September 1909 and his birth name was Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngonloma. It wasn't until 1945 that he decided to change his name whilst living in the United Kingdom. The name Kwame means 'born on Saturday' and as this was the case for Dr Nkrumah, the name had meaning. He got his surname by mistake when he was at school in Ghana. During enrolment, the teacher wrote his name down incorrectly and it stuck.
Dr Nkrumah started life as a teacher after getting his teaching certificate in 1930. A year later he started teaching at a Roman Catholic school in Elmina. His education was not to stop there though and in 1935 Nkrumah attended Lincoln University in the USA. He achieved a BA in 1939 and then a BA in Theology in 1942. He went on to get an MSc in Education from the Pennsylvania University in 1942. A year later he had an MA in Philosophy from the same university.
During his time at university, Nkrumah studied part-time lectureship in Negro History and it was also during the period of 1939 - 1945 that he helped to found the African Studies Association and the African Students Association of America and Canada.
In May of 1945 Nkrumah arrived in London aiming to study Law. However, this path was not to be followed straight away as he met George Padmore with whom he helped organise the Sixth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England. They were co-political secretaries.
After the Congress, Nkrumah continued his work towards the de-colonisation of Africa and became the vice-president of the West African Students Union. He also led 'The Circle' which was a secret organisation dedicated to the unity and independence of West Africa.
In 1947, Nkrumah wrote his first book entitled 'Towards Colonial Freedom'. At the end of that same year, he returned to the Gold Coast and became the General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).
In September of 1948, Nkrumah established the Accra Evening News (a paper) and at the same time it was published he was dismissed as the General Secretary of the UGCC. He did however start his own political party called the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in 1948.
It was in February of 1951 during a period of incarceration when he had been arrested and imprisoned after riots from the declaration of Positive Action in January 1950; Nkrumah won an election for the Accra Central seat. He was released in the same month so he could form a new government.
In 1956, Nkrumah won the elections to become the country's Prime Minister and this time it led to independence for Ghana. Their independence was announced in April 1958.
In that same year, Nkrumah married Helena Ritz Fathia, an Egyptian Coptic and they had three children together.
Ghana was declared a Republic in 1960 and Nkrumah became the country's first president, but a couple of years later, Nkrumah was the target of an assassination attempt.
In 1964, Dr Nkrumah established Ghana as a One Party State and named himself as President for Life, which was in opposition to his original democratic views. This wasn't to be as in 1966 he was overthrown in a military coup whilst on a trip to Hanoi in North Vietnam.
After the coup, Nkrumah lived in Conakry in Guinea and in April 1972, he died seeking cancer treatment whilst in Romania. He was buried in Ghana.
Sources:
http://www.ghana.com/republic/presidents/nkrumah.html
http://mimi.essortment.com/ghanarevolution_rumi.htm
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/PEOPLE/nkrumah.html
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