Nkrumah, Kwame

Nkrumah, Kwame (kwä`mā nkr`mä), 1909–72, African political leader, prime minister (1957–60) and president (1960–66) of Ghana. The son of a goldsmith, he was educated at mission schools in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and became a teacher. A brilliant student, he studied (1935–45) in the United States and then went to London. While studying law there he held important posts in African nationalist organizations, espousing Pan-Africanism. Returning to the Gold Coast in 1947, he was made general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention party by its founder, Dr. J. B. Danquah, who was later jailed by Nkrumah. In 1949, Nkrumah formed his own party, the Convention People's party, and led a series of strikes and boycotts for self-government. He was imprisoned (1950) by the British for sedition, but was released in 1951 when his party swept the general election; he became prime minister in 1952. Under his leadership the Gold Coast achieved (1957) independence and, in 1960, became the Republic of Ghana. Probably the leading proponent of pan-Africanism, he effected a loose union with Guinea (1959) and Mali (1960). Following a course of international political neutrality, he secured economic and technical aid from the United States and the Soviet Union. As president, Nkrumah suppressed political opponents, and in 1961, after a series of strikes, made himself supreme commander of the armed forces; he also assumed absolute control of the Convention People's party. Several attempts were made on his life. He increasingly isolated himself from the populace, meanwhile promoting a cult of personality. In 1966, while he was on a trip to Beijing, his government was overthrown. He subsequently took refuge in Guinea.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1957); biographies by G. Marais (1972), B. Davidson (1974), and D. Kellner (1987).

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Nkrumah, Kwame

Nkrumah, 1962

(credit: Marc and Evelyne Bernheim/Woodfin Camp and Associates)

(born September 1909, Nkroful, Gold Coast—died April 27, 1972, Bucharest, Rom.) Nationalist leader and president of Ghana (1960–66). Nkrumah worked as a teacher before going to the U.S. to study literature and socialism (1935–45). In 1949 he formed the Convention People's Party, which advocated nonviolent protests, strikes, and noncooperation with the British authorities. Elected prime minister of the Gold Coast (1952–60) and then president of independent Ghana, Nkrumah advanced a policy of Africanization and built new roads, schools, and health facilities. After 1960 he devoted much of his time to the Pan-African movement, at the expense of Ghana's economy. Following an attempted coup in 1962, he increased authoritarian controls, withdrew from public life, increased contacts with communist countries, and wrote works on political philosophy. With the country facing economic ruin, he was deposed in 1966 while visiting Beijing.