Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) was the Ghanaian leader who won independence for the Gold Coast in 1957 — the first sub-Saharan African colony to break free — and became the founding prophet of pan-Africanism, the movement for a united Africa, before one-party rule ended his reign in a 1966 coup.
An electrifying organizer who turned strikes and boycotts into a mass party, he built modern Ghana’s schools, roads and the Volta dam — then slid into one-party rule, jailed opponents without trial, and was overthrown in a 1966 military coup while abroad. He died in exile, still insisting Africa’s unity was destiny.
