Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was born at Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana on September 21, 1909.

He attended Achimota School and also trained as a teacher. He went to the United States in 1935 for advanced studies, receiving a B.A. Degree from the Lincoln University in 1939.

He also received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology Degree in 1942, a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942 and a Master of Arts in Philosophy the following year.

While lecturing in Political Science at Lincoln University, Dr. Nkrumah was elected President of the African Students Organisation of America and Canada.

He continued his schooling in England, where he helped to organise the fifth Pan-African Congress in 1945.

He then founded the West African National Secretariat to work for the decolonisation of Africa. Dr. Nkrumah also served as Vice-President of the West African Students Union (WASU).

During his lifetime, Dr. Nkrumah was awarded honorary Doctorate Degrees by the Lincoln University, the Moscow State University, the Cairo University, the Jagielloniaan University in Krakow, Poland and the Humboldt University in the former East Germany.

On June 12, 1949, Dr. Nkrumah led the formation of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) at Arena in Accra before a crowd of some 60,000 people.

He declared “positive action” on January 8, 1950 at a public meeting in Accra.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was arrested on January 21, 1950, tried for inciting an illegal strike and sedition for an article in the Cape Coast Daily Mail and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Mr. Komla Agbeli Gbedemah kept the party running and was in constant touch with Dr. Nkrumah, who was held at the James Fort Prison, from where messages were smuggled out on toilet paper to the party headquarters.

While in prison, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah led the CPP to achieve a stunning victory in the February 1951 election.

He was freed to form a government and he led the colony to independence in 1957.

As time passed, he was accused of being a dictator and also forming a one-party state in 1964, with himself as President for life, as well as actively promoting a cult of his own personality.

Overthrown by the military in 1966, he spent his last years in exile, dying in Bucharest, Romania, on April 27, 1972.

His Excellency Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was married to Mrs. Helena Ritz Fathia Nkrumah, with whom he had three children; Gamal, Sekou and Samia Nkrumah.

Source: graphic.com.gh