Ghana

The struggle

The Gold Coast was the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence, and its example set the pace for the continent. Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party turned nationalism into a mass movement with strikes and 'Positive Action', winning elections from prison in 1951. At midnight on 6 March 1957 Nkrumah declared that Ghana's independence was meaningless unless linked to the total liberation of Africa.

Key people

• Kwame Nkrumah

  1909–1972

  Led the CPP; first prime minister and president

• J. B. Danquah

  1895–1965

  Founder of the UGCC and early nationalist intellectual

• Yaa Asantewaa

  1840–1921

  Led the Asante war against British rule in 1900

• Hannah Kudjoe

  1918–1986

  Organised women across the country for the CPP