View source for Kwame Nkrumah

{{Infobox officeholder

|name         = Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah
|image        = 1989 CPA 6101.jpg
|imagesize    = 180px
|caption      = Kwame Nkrumah on a soviet postage stamp
|order = 3rd
|office = Chairman of the Organization of African Unity
|term_start = 21 October 1965
|term_end = 24 February 1966
|predecessor = [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]
|successor = [[Joseph Arthur Ankrah]]
|order2 = 1st [[President of Ghana]]
|term_start2 = 1 July 1960
|term_end2 = 24 February 1966
|predecessor2 = [[William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel|The 5th Earl of Listowel]]<br/><small>as [[Governor-General of Ghana|Governor-General]]</small>
|successor2 = [[Joseph Arthur Ankrah]]<br /><small>as Chairman of the [[National Liberation Council]]</small>
|order3 = 1st
|office3 = Prime Minister of Ghana
|term_start3 = 6 March 1957

|term_end3 = 1 July 1960
|governor-general3=[[Charles Noble Arden-Clarke|Sir Charles Arden-Clarke]]<small> until 24 June 1957</small><br /> [[William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel|Lord Listowel]]<small> 24 June 1957 - 1 July 1960</small>
|predecessor3 = ''Office Established''
|successor3 = Himself<br/> as [[President of Ghana]]
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|9|21|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Nkroful]], [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|04|27|1909|09|21|df=yes}}
|death_place = [[Bucharest]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]]
|nationality = [[British subject|British]], Ghanaian
|party = [[Convention People's Party]]
|spouse = [[Fathia Nkrumah|Fathia Rizk]]
|children = Francis, [[Gamal Nkrumah|Gamal]],[[Samia Nkrumah|Samia]] and Sekou

|profession = [[Lecturer]]
}}

'''Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah''' (21 September 1909 - 27 April 1972)<ref name="bio">{{cite book|last=E. Jessup|first=John|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945-1996|pages=533}}</ref> was a very influential 20th century advocate of [[Pan-Africanism]]. He was also the first [[President of Ghana]], the first [[Prime Minister of Ghana]] and a founding member of the [[Organization of African Unity]]. Kwame Nkrumah is considered to be the father-figure of [[Pan-Africanism]], liberating Ghana from [[british]] rule at the beginning of the 1960's at a time when most other [[Afrikan]] countries were under the overseas yolk. Nkrumah was a visionary, representing a view of Afrika that others dared not dream about, espousing a [[United States of Africa]], a model which other Afrikan leaders have since discussed, if not pursued. 

==Early Life==
In 1909, Kwame Nkrumah was born to Nyaniba<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rulers.org/indexn2.html#nkrum|title=Rulers - Nkrumah, Kwame|accessdate=2007-03-24|work=Lists of heads of state and heads of government|publisher=Rulers.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=100491|title=Nkrumah And The Big Six|accessdate=2007-04-30|author=Asante Fordjour|date=6 March 2006|work=Feature Article|publisher=Ghana Home Page}}</ref> in [[Nkroful]], [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]].<ref name="mother">{{cite book|last=Yaw Owusu|first=Robert|year=2005|title=Kwame Nkrumah's Liberation Thought: A Paradigm for Religious Advocacy in Contemporary Ghana|pages=97}}</ref> Nkrumah graduated from the prestigious [[Achimota School]] in [[Accra]] in 1930,<ref name="bio"/> studied at a [[roman catholic]] seminary, and taught at a [[catholic school]] in [[Axim]]. In 1935 he left [[Ghana]] for the [[united states]], receiving a BA from [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]], [[Pennsylvania]] in 1939, he received an STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) in 1942. Nkrumah earned 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 he was elected president of the African Students Organization of America and Canada. As an undergraduate at Lincoln he participated in at least one student theater production and published an essay on european government in [[Afrika]] in the student newspaper,''The Lincolnian.''<ref>[http://www.lincoln.edu/library/project.html special Collections and Archives, Lincoln University].</ref>

During his time in the united states, Nkrumah preached at black Presbyterian Churches in [[Philadelphia]] and [[New York City]]. He read books about politics and divinity, and tutored students in philosophy. Nkrumah encountered the ideas of [[Marcus Garvey]], and in 1943 met and began a lengthy correspondence with [[Trinidad]]ian [[C.L.R. James]].

He arrived in [[london]] in May 1945 intending to study at the [[London School of Economics|LSE]]. After meeting with [[George Padmore]], he helped organize the Fifth [[Pan-African Congress]] in [[manchester]], england. Then he founded the [[West African National Secretariat]] to work for the decolonization of Afrika. Nkrumah served as Vice-President of the [[West African Students' Union]] (WASU).

Over his lifetime, Nkrumah was awarded honorary doctorates by [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]], [[Moscow State University]]; [[Cairo University]] in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] and many other universities.

==notes==
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