Kwame Nkrumah - Biography.

Kwame Nkrumah - Biography. Founder and leader of independent Ghana Birth September 21, 1909 Death April 27, 1972 Place of Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana) Birth Political Convention People's Party (CPP) Party Official Title President, Prime Minister Term President 1960-1966 Prime Minister 1957-1960 Known for Leading a successful movement to create an independent Ghana, but tarnishing his own reputation with an increasingly dictatorial regime, which ultimately led to his overthrow Milestones 1935 Traveled to the United States to study at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania 1945 Helped organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress, held in Manchester, England 1947 Returned to Africa to become general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), a movement to establish independence from Britain 1949 Split from UGCC on the grounds that it was working too slowly, and formed the more radical Convention People's Party (CPP) 1951 Led the CPP to a sweep in national elections and formed a government to begin the transfer of power from British colonial authority to home rule 1957 Became the first prime minister of Ghana upon its independence, a title that changed to president in 1960 1963 Participated in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity but found opposition to his dream of continental union 1964 Became increasingly dictatorial after surviving two assassination attempts, forming a one-party state and naming himself president for life 1966 Was removed from power by military forces while traveling in Asia, and lived the remainder of his life in exile Did You Nkrumah was awarded the 1962 Lenin Peace Prize for his leadership in Pan-Africanism and anticolonialism. Know Nkrumah died in Bucharest, Romania, while undergoing treatment for cancer. In 1961 Nkrumah invited black American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to live in Ghana, where Du Bois began work on his unfinished Encyclopedia Africana. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.