The History Book

306

GHANA YOUR

BELOVED COUNTRY

IS FREE FOREVER

NKRUMAH WINS GHANAIAN INDEPENDENCE (1957)

I

n February 1948, at a time

when the Gold Coast, a British

colony in West Africa, had

been demanding independence for

several years, a group of unarmed

African ex-servicemen marched to

the British governor with a petition

of grievances. Ordered to stop, they

refused, and the police opened fire.

In response to this, in 1949,

nationalist Kwame Nkrumah

formed the Convention People’s

Party (CPP), an organization

fighting for self-governance.

Nkrumah initiated a campaign

of positive action inspired by

Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent

non-cooperation in India against

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Postcolonial Africa

BEFORE

1946 The formation of the

international Pan-African

Federation promotes

African independence.

1952–60 The Mau Mau

uprising in Kenya against

the British marks a turning

point in the struggle for

independence.

1956 A humiliating defeat for

France and Britain in Suez

signals a further decline of

the old European powers.

AFTER

1957–75 Most African nations

achieve independence from

French, British, Portuguese,

and Belgian rule.

1963 The Organization of

African Unity is founded.

1994 South Africans are the

last people on the continent

to achieve majority rule.

African

nationalism

gathers pace

during the

early 1900s.

The ideology of

Pan-Africanism

gains adherents

worldwide.

African

experiences in

World War II

spur demands for

racial equality.

Nkrumah fails in his campaign for the political unity of Africa.

By the mid-1970s, most of Africa has

gained independence, if not peace.

Nkrumah wins independence for Ghana.

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307

Kwame Nkrumah, Kojo Botsio,

Krobo Edusei, and other Ghanaian

politicians celebrate the independence

of their country, which was achieved

peacefully and democratically.

See also: The formation of the Royal African Company 176–79 ■ The Slave Trade Abolition Act 226–27 ■ The Berlin

Conference 258–59 ■ Indian independence and partition 298–301 ■ The release of Nelson Mandela 325

THE MODERN WORLD

the British. The strikes and protests

they encouraged remained peaceful

but paralyzed the country, and

Britain agreed to elections in early

1951. The CPP won 35 out of 38
      seats, and the Gold Coast moved
      rapidly toward independence,
      which was proclaimed on March 6,
      1957 with Nkrumah becoming
      prime minister of the nation of
      Ghana. It was a moment of huge
      hope for a new kind of Africa.
      The European powers that ruled
      Africa had been impoverished by
      World War II, and attitudes to
      colonialism were changing. Nations
      that had fought against fascism
      found it hard to justify imperialism.

A domino effect

Events in Ghana had a significant

impact in West Africa. In 1958,

Guinea voted to secede from France.

Determined not to be left behind,

Nigeria celebrated independence

from Britain on October 1, 1960.

By 1964, independence had also

been granted to Kenya, Northern

Rhodesia (Zambia), Nyasaland

(Malawi), and Uganda.

The French fought an eight-year

war to hold on to Algeria, finally

conceding independence in 1962.

The Portuguese, the first

European colonial power in Africa,

fought a long war to hold on to their

colonies of Angola, Mozambique,

and Guinea from 1961 to 1974. The

collapse of Belgian authority in

the Congo in 1960 led to a wave

of violence across the nation and

the assassination of the first prime

minister, Patrick Lumumba, in 1961.

Many African countries gained

independence during the Cold

War. Used as pawns between

the capitalist and communist

superpowers, they accepted loans

and military aid: in the 1970s,

Ethiopia was rewarded with billions

of dollars’ worth of Soviet military

equipment. Civil wars were also

numerous, such as the ethnic civil

wars in Rwanda and Zaire, as well

as the clashes between warlords

over food supplies in Somalia.

Dictatorial rulers

Once independence was achieved,

African nationalist leaders sought

to consolidate power by banning

political rivals. Coups and military

governments predominated—such

as that of Idi Amin in Uganda. By

the early 1970s, only Zimbabwe

and South Africa were still ruled by

the white political elite. Corruption,

however, existed in most African

countries. Nkrumah wanted Ghana

to be a beacon of success, but his

Pan-Africanism failed, and Ghana’s

fortunes began to slide as he

became increasingly dictatorial. ■

Kwame Nkrumah

Ambitious and well-educated,

Kwame Nkrumah had big plans

for both Ghana and Africa as a

whole. He went to college in the

US and later traveled to England,

where he became involved in the

West African Students’ Union. In

1948, he began traveling around

the Gold Coast as leader of a

youth movement calling for

“self-government now.”

Nkrumah’s calls for positive

action civil disobedience as head

of the Convention People’s Party

led to his arrest, and he was

sentenced to three years in

jail. While in prison, he won

the general election, and five

years later, in 1957, he became

prime minister of the newly

independent Ghana.

Nkrumah’s popularity rose

with the construction of new

schools, roads, and health

facilities, but by 1964 Ghana was

a one-party state and Nkrumah

its “life president.” After two

assassination attempts and

increasing human-rights abuses,

Nkrumah faced a coup in 1966

and went into exile in Guinea.

He died of cancer in 1972.

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