Nkrumah, Kwame Francis Nwia Kofi

Nkrumah, Kwame Francis Nwia Kofi (b. 21 Sept. 1909, d. 27 Apr. 1972). Prime Minister of the Gold Coast 1952–7; President of Ghana 1957–66 Born in Nkroful, he studied at Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania in the USA, and at the University of London (London School of Economics) in the UK. In Britain, he became active in the West African Students' Union and met several Black African leaders campaigning for independence and a pan-African movement. As a result, he was invited to return to lead the Gold Coast's first political party founded by Danquah, the United Gold Coast Convention, in 1947. On 12 June 1949 he founded the more radical Convention People's Party (CPP), which called for passive resistance and strikes to force independence from British colonial rule. Despite his being imprisoned in 1950, the CCP won the 1951 elections to the Legislative Assembly, whereupon he was released and became Prime Minister. After the country achieved independence as Ghana, he established a one- party dictatorship, declared himself president for life in 1962, but was overthrown in 1966. As the first Black African to lead his country to independence from British colonial rule, he inspired a generation of Black African leaders. He actively encouraged other African independence movements through his visits abroad and his writings, which include Towards Colonial Freedom (1946), his autobiography Ghana (1953), and Africa Must Unite (1963).