Kwame Nkrumah

First prime minister and president of Ghana, pan-Africanist leader.

Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary who served as the first prime minister and president of Ghana.^[1] In 1962, the Soviet Union awarded Nkrumah the Lenin Peace Prize, and he helped establish the Organisation of African Unity as one of its founders.^[2][3][4] Ghana, under Nkrumah's leadership, became the initial sub-Saharan African nation to achieve independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.^[5][4]

Quick Facts

Order: 1st
Office: President of Ghana
Took office: 1 July 1960
Left office: 24 February 1966
Successor: Joseph Arthur Ankrah as Chairman of the NLC

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Nkrumah was born on 21 September 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast, to Kofi Ngonloma and Elizabeth Nyanibah.^[6][7] In 1945, he helped organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester and changed his name to Kwame Nkrumah.^[8][9][3] He returned to the Gold Coast in 1947 to become General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention.^[10][11][7] Nkrumah broke away to form the Convention People's Party on 12 June 1949, advocating for immediate self-government.^[12][3]

Released, he became Prime Minister in 1952 and led Ghana to independence in 1957.^[5][13] His administration pursued socialist policies and pan-Africanist goals, but became increasingly authoritarian after an assassination attempt.^[14][15][7] Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup on 24 February 1966 while traveling to Hanoi.^[15][7] Following his declaration of Positive Action, Nkrumah was arrested in January 1950; while still incarcerated, he won a parliamentary seat in the February 1951 election.^[16][17][7]

What the cited sources add

The Daily Graphic biography states Nkrumah married 25-year-old Helena Ritz Fathia in 1958 and had three children.^[7] The same source notes he was voted "Most Outstanding Professor-Of-The-Year" by The Lincolnian in 1945.^[7] The mkgandhi.org account reports Nkrumah studied Gandhi's non-violence and adopted it as "Positive Action"^[3] The Daily Graphic records that Nkrumah authored over 20 books and publications.^[7]

The same source lists capital investments under Nkrumah including the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam and the Accra/Tema Motorway.^[7] The mkgandhi.org account notes Nkrumah acknowledged inspiration from Gandhi, as did J.B. Danquah.^[3]

References

Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: o'Hara, "Governing Post-War Britain", Palgrave Macmillan, 11 April 2012, p. 53–72 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rathbone, "Nkrumah, Kwame (1909?–1972), president of Ghana", 23 September 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Kwame Nkrumah: Non-Violence of Mahatma Gandhi in Ghana Articles : On and By Gandhi", www.mkgandhi.org. facts only, no text reused. mkgandhi.org
"Kwame Nkrumah: Ghana's first president and a revered panafrican", The New Times Rwanda, 31 October 2017. facts only, no text reused. newtimes.co.rw
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hsü, "The Political Philosophy of Confucianism", Routledge, 5 November 2013, p. 258–273; "Proceedings of the convention at which the American federation of arts was formed", B. S. Adams, 1909 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kwame Nkrumah: Non-Violence of Mahatma Gandhi in Ghana", www.mkgandhi.org; "Dr Kwame Nkrumah's History & LSE Application Form.", London School of Economics, 10 October 2018; "Man in the News; An African Enigma; Kwame Nkrumah", The New York Times, 3 January 1964; Botwe-Asamoah, "Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-cultural Thought and Policies: An African-centered Paradigm for the Second Phase of the African Revolution", Psychology Press, 2005, p. 1; Berry, "Ghana: a country study", Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1995, p. 27 (we als en.wikipedia.org
"Biography of Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah", Daily Graphic, 8 March 2016. facts only, no text reused. graphic.com.gh
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rooney, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Martin, "African Political Thought", Palgrave Macmillan US, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Owusu-Ansah, p. 239; Rooney, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Man in the News; An African Enigma; Kwame Nkrumah", The New York Times, 3 January 1964; Rooney, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kwame Nkrumah: Non-Violence of Mahatma Gandhi in Ghana Articles : On and By Gandhi", www.mkgandhi.org; Addo, p. 53–54; Addo, p. 53–54 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bourret, p. 175–177; Rooney, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stanek, "Architecture in global socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War", Princeton University Press, 2020; Serra, "THE POLITICS OF SOCIALIST EDUCATION IN GHANA: THE KWAME NKRUMAH IDEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 1961–6", The Journal of African History, November 2019, p. 407–428; Nkrumah, "[Letter: Kwamé Nkrumah to Richard Wright]", 1953; Serra, "THE POLITICS OF SOCIALIST EDUCATION IN GHANA: THE KWAME NKRUMAH IDEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 1961–6", The Journal of African History, November 2019, p. 407–428 (original not r en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ninsin, "The Ghana Reader", Duke University Press, 4 February 2016, p. 303–306; Fischer, "Portrait of Nkrumah as Dictator", American Political Science Review, 3 May 1964, p. 46–63; Zolberg, "One-Party Government in the Ivory Coast", Princeton University Press, 31 December 1964, p. 219–249; Yergin, "The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy", Simon and Schuster, 2002-06-15; Serra, "THE POLITICS OF SOCIALIST EDUCATION IN GHANA: THE KWAME NKRUMAH IDEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 1961–6", The Journal of African History, November 2019, p. en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kwame Nkrumah. Vision and Tragedy", Sub-Saharan Publishers, 15 November 2007, p. 74–90; Rooney, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Kwame Nkrumah" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Birmingham, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Kwame Nkrumah (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.