Kwame Nkrumah: The London years, 1945–47

Abstract

Kwame Nkrumah is one of the most important figures in the history of modern African nationalism. Returning to the Gold Coast from London in 1947 he created the Convention People's Party and mobilized disenfranchised people to successfully challenge British colonial rule. In ten years Nkrumah's CPP won three elections and led to independence the new state of Ghana. Nkrumah spent two‐and‐a‐half years in London which were of great significance to the development of his political experience. Relatively little is known of his activities other than the limited partial account given in his Autobiography. This contribution, a resume of a longer study, looks at the political groups and Black activists with whom Nkrumah associated in Britain and suggests the part that they played in shaping the political talents that he was to deploy with such remarkable effect in the Gold Coast.