While on a peacemaking mission to what was then North Vietnam on 24 February 1966, Ghana’s first post-independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah, received disturbing news. A group of army and police officers calling themselves the National Liberation Council (NLC) had carried out a military coup, overthrowing his government.
The NLC immediately set to work erasing Nkurumah’s legacy and accomplishments. One of the power grab’s leaders, Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, infamously ended his coup announcement on state radio by saying, ‘The myth surrounding Nkrumah has been broken.’
However, Kotoka couldn’t have been more wrong. Nkurumah’s legacy outlived the NLC and those who were behind it. Nearly six decades after the coup, that legacy continues to be revered and celebrated by many at home and beyond Ghana’s shores.
Nkrumah’s contribution to the African liberation cause earned him respect and admiration across the continent. He also contributed to pan-African thought by authoring several revolutionary books, including the widely read ‘Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism.’
In this video, our sister Inemesit Richardson highlights some of Nkurumah’s many accomplishments.