From a prison cell in Accra to exile in Conakry — the writings of Kwame Nkrumah trace the arc of Africa's struggle for freedom. Read them in order. Understand the journey.
Before independence — the prison years, the philosophy, the fire that would light a continent.
From "Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah"
I was imprisoned by the colonial government. They thought the walls of James Fort would break me. They were wrong. Prison, I discovered, is a university — the finest I ever attended.
Read full letter →From the roar of the independence declaration to the halls of the OAU — Nkrumah on the world stage, building the dream of a United Africa.
Independence Day Declaration, Old Polo Grounds
At long last, the battle has ended! And thus, Ghana, your beloved country, is free forever! And yet again, I say that the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.
Read full letter →From "I Speak of Freedom"
For centuries, Europeans dominated the African continent. The white man arrogated to himself the right to rule and to be obeyed by the non-white; his mission, he claimed, was to "civilise" Africa.
Read full letter →Address to the OAU Founding Summit
We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning colonialism in disguised forms. We must unite now or perish.
Read full letter →From "Consciencism"
We do not need to go to Europe to find our identity. We do not need to reject modernity to be African. What we need is a synthesis — a way of being that honours the communal traditions of our ancestors.
Read full letter →From "Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism"
The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.
Read full letter →After the coup of February 24, 1966, Nkrumah wrote from Guinea — to Africa, to Ghana, to history. He never returned. He died on April 27, 1972.
Broadcast to the People of Ghana
The military and police have seized power in Ghana while I was on a mission of peace to Hanoi. I want you to know that I am well, that I am safe, and that I have not abandoned you.
Read full letter →Letter to African Heads of State
I write to you not as the deposed President of Ghana, but as a fellow African who has devoted his life to the cause we all profess to share: the total liberation and unification of our continent.
Read full letter →Radio Guinea Broadcast
You were trained to defend Ghana. Instead, you were used to destroy it. Not by an enemy from across the sea, but by the very powers whose interests you were told to protect.
Read full letter →From "Dark Days in Ghana"
The events of February 1966 did not occur in a vacuum. They were the culmination of a carefully orchestrated campaign by imperialist powers who could not tolerate an independent Africa.
Read full letter →From "Dark Days in Ghana"
The future of Africa belongs to you. Not to the generals who seize power in the night. Not to the foreign interests who finance coups and install puppet governments. The future belongs to you.
Read full letter →From "Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare"
While I write from exile, you fight in the bush. While I theorise about liberation, you live it — in Mozambique, in Angola, in Zimbabwe, in Namibia, in South Africa.
Read full letter →From "Class Struggle in Africa"
I have said it before and I shall say it again: Africa must unite. This is not a slogan. It is a matter of life and death. A divided Africa will forever be at the mercy of those who wish to exploit it.
Read full letter →From "Revolutionary Path"
I am growing old in this borrowed country, and my health is not what it was. But the fire that was lit on the 6th of March, 1957, burns still. It burns in me, and I know it burns in you.
Read full letter →Open Letter to Dr. K.A. Busia
So the army has removed you too. On the 13th of January, 1972, while you sat in a London clinic, the soldiers came — just as they came for me six years ago.
Read full letter →