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Kwame Nkrumah

1909 – 1972 Ghanaian independence leader, first president of Ghana, Pan-Africanist

Leader of Ghana's independence and its first president, a founding figure of Pan-Africanism, overthrown in a 1966 coup.

Religion
Christian, Marxist-influenced
Affiliations
Convention People's Party, Organisation of African Unity

Kwame Nkrumah led the Gold Coast to become Ghana in 1957, the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence, and became its first prime minister and president. A driving force of Pan-Africanism, he helped found the Organisation of African Unity and wrote Neo-Colonialism, arguing that formal independence masked continued economic control. His rule became increasingly authoritarian and one-party, and his ambitious development plans strained the economy. He was overthrown in 1966 by a coup that had documented contacts with Western intelligence, and died in exile.

Works in the library

Connections

  • mentor of George Padmore — Adviser and mentor to Nkrumah, later working in Ghana.
  • mentor of George Padmore — Padmore was his adviser and Pan-African mentor.
  • ally of Modibo Keita — Partner in the Ghana-Guinea-Mali union of radical states.
  • ally of Patrice Lumumba — Fellow Pan-Africanist who backed his cause.
  • ally of Patrice Lumumba — Fellow Pan-Africanist whose cause he backed.
  • ally of Sekou Toure — Sheltered Nkrumah after his overthrow and named him honorary co-president of Guinea.
  • rival of Sylvanus Olympio — Regional rival over the future of the Ewe people and Togo-Ghana relations.
  • associate of W.E.B. Du Bois — Invited Du Bois to settle in Ghana.
  • associate of W.E.B. Du Bois — Moved to Ghana at Nkrumah's invitation.

In the timeline

Wikipedia