The more I travel and the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
After my time spent in Accra delving into Ghana’s rich, modern history, I realized just how inadequate my schooling was in regards to anything Africa. Other than a brief mention of Cleopatra, my teachers discussed the Atlantic slave trade and not much else. How could such a titanic figure as Kwame Nkrumah go unreferenced when he not only brought about independence for Ghana, but was also instrumental in bringing down colonialism across West Africa and promoting Pan-Africanism at home and abroad? With my American education leaving me totally unprepared to interact in our global society, I depend on travel to be my teacher and get me up to speed on the goings on outside the bubble of my upbringing.
Before I dive headlong into the life and times of Kwame Nkrumah, let me back up and give some context to his story. The territory that currently makes up Ghana has been inhabited for millennia. By the 11th Century, large kingdoms began to form, the two most powerful of which were the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north and the Kingdom of Ashanti in the south. Ghana is comprised of dozens of ethnic groups today; as Ghana was a British Colony, English remains an official language, but there are also twenty officially recognized national languages, including Asante Twi, Ga and Fante/Fanti, which are the three most common you will encounter in Accra and along the southern coast. (Learn some basic phrases in Twi, Ga and Fante and you’ll go far!)
In 1482, the Portuguese built Elmina Castle about 160km (100mi) west of Accra. The Portuguese were soon joined by the British, French, Dutch and Danish, all of whom built forts along the Atlantic coast for shipping gold, spices and human slaves to North and South America. Eventually the British pushed the other European powers out, and took official control of the newly minted “Gold Coast.” The Ashanti people waged a 100 year war with the British, but eventually the Ashanti capital of Kumasi was captured and destroyed in the early 20th Century.
After World War I, German Togoland was split into British Togoland and French Togoland, the later of which would become present-day Togo and the former would become the fourth British Crown Colony, along with the Gold Coast, Ashanti and the Northern Territories, that would join together to become Ghana.
Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park & Mausoleum
Enter Kwame Nkrumah. Born into a poor family in the Gold Coast, Nkrumah grew up speaking Fante and was able to attend a Catholic school in the colony. Nkrumah was an exceptional student and found himself on track to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in the United States. After Lincoln, Nkrumah received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the top schools in the US. Nkrumah worked with a linguist to create the first Fante/English dictionary concurrent with his studies. During the summers, Nkrumah lived in Harlem, a traditionally Black neighborhood of New York City. For the decade he lived in the States from 1935-45, he was highly influenced by Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois, whose writings greatly guided his views on Pan-Africanism.
Armed with this new-found knowledge and excellent oration skills, Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast and rose through the ranks of the political arena. By 1952, Nkrumah had been elected as the first Prime Minister of the Gold Coast, and just five years later, on March 6, 1957, Kwame Nkrumah addressed the people of Ghana for the first time when he declared independence and united the four British Crown Colonies in the region. Although independent, Ghana was still considered a protectorate of the British Empire and it wasn’t until July 1, 1960 (Republic Day), that Nkrumah was able to completely break free of British control.
As Ghana broke free from its colonial chains, Nkrumah guided the fledging nation in a socialist direction. Along with his buddy and President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito (you didn’t think you were really through with Tito, did you?), Nkrumah helped found the Non-Aligned Movement, which was a union of countries not interested in picking sides in the East vs. West Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Tito visited Accra in 1961 to congratulate his friend on Ghana’s independence. Nkrumah presented Tito with a pair of traditional sandals that would help him walk a great journey; these shoes are now on display at the Museum of Yugoslavia in Belgrade. Tito gifted Nkrumah an Yugoslav automobile, an X-Ray machine and cinema projectors for several movie theaters in the capital.
Like Tito, who was also promoting unity amongst the Slavic peoples of Yugoslavia, Nkrumah fought against tribalism in Ghana, often through harsh, authoritarian laws that attempted to stamp out cultural differences between various ethnic groups. Pan-Africanism focuses on strengthening the bonds between all African peoples, including those in the diaspora, and Nkrumah took this to the extreme by eliminating anyone who clung to pieces of their ethnic heritage at the expense of total and complete unity.
Pulling another page from Tito’s book, in 1964 Nkrumah abolished all political parties except his own and declared himself president for life. A once beloved revolutionary leader had gone too far. In 1966, Nkrumah left Ghana on a diplomatic mission to North Vietnam; military leaders seized the opportunity and overthrew his government in a bloody coup. Nkrumah never stepped foot in Ghana again. He took refuge in nearby Guinea and in a bizarre twist, was installed as co-President of Guinea until his death in 1972.
Today Kwame Nkumah’s transgressions have faded into the background and his triumphs that pushed Ghana forward as an independent nation are widely celebrated. His birthday has been declared a national holiday and in 1992 the museum, memorial park and mausoleum dedicated to Ghana’s first president were opened to the public.
Nkrumah’s mausoleum was designed to look like an upside down sword plunged into the ground, a traditional symbol for peace. The memorial park sits on the former British polo grounds, a representation of all things colonial in Accra. It was here, on March 6, 1957, that Nkrumah stood in front of the population of Accra and first declared Ghana a united and independent nation.
The museum situated within the memorial park is a bit haphazard, but what really makes the visit worth it are the excellent guides who will escort you around the premises. I visited the memorial complex with two ladies from Slovenia I met at my hostel (seriously, Agoo Hostel is the BEST!) and we basically forced our guide to give us a complete Ghanaian history from 1900 to the present, ha.
Just to catch you up, after the coup in 1966, there was another coup, followed by another coup, and then another and another. History followed this pattern until Jerry Rawlings took control in 1981, abolished the constitution and remained in power until 1992 when a new constitution was implemented and the “fourth republic” of Ghana was born. Rawlings then ran for President in democratic elections and won two terms. Since then, Ghana has been heralded as having some of the most corruption-free elections in Africa and transfers of power have remained civil and peaceful.
Men representing the various ethnic groups of Ghana are shown playing instruments around the memorial complex. Even though they are all slightly different, they adhere to Nkrumah’s calls for Pan-Africanism and play their instruments in unity. People from the north and south have come together to pay their respects to the father of Ghanaian independence.
The statue of Kwame Nkrumah pictured above once stood in front of the Old Parliament House across the street from the polo grounds where the memorial complex now stands. During the 1966 coup, the statue was vandalized and decapitated. The body of the statue was saved by the National Museum, but the head was feared lost. Then, in 2009, a private citizen came forward announcing that she had scooped by the head during the riots and stored it carefully in her house for the past 43 years! The head has now been reunited with the rest of the statue and is on display at the memorial park.
The park is a beautiful spot to relax, smell the flowers and watch the peacocks that strut around like they own the place. Given the breadth of information you can learn here, I highly recommend this being one of your first stops on a visit to Accra.
Black Star Square
After declaring independence in 1957, Nkrumah commissioned a large public square to be built not far from the old polo grounds. The square looks out onto the Gulf of Guinea before opening up past the arches into a stadium setting that can hold 30,000 people. The square was completed in 1961 to mark the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit to a post-colonial Ghana. Various parades and special events are still held in the square today, including a big Independence Day bash each year on March 6th.
Tito didn’t just influence Ghanaian politics, but architecture as well. Yes, Black Star Square is an example of socialist brutalism, but with some Ghanaian twists. The black star is a symbol of African unity and was very important to Nkrumah for it to be prominently displayed throughout the square. Because of the perpetual heat in Accra, the structures are also more open and airy than most socialist brutalist buildings would typically be.
On the north side of the square is the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier that pays tribute to all those who died in service of attaining Ghanaian independence. In the background you can see the Ghanaian flag: red symbolizes the blood shed by colonial powers, yellow stands for Ghana’s mineral wealth, green represents agriculture and Ghana’s natural beauty and the black star in the middle reminds us of African unity. These are the things for which countless soldiers gave their lives.
In the roundabout north of the square is the Black Star Gate, which commemorates the events of 1957. Maybe it was because I visited the square under the scorching afternoon sun, but the the area was eerily calm and empty. Perhaps it was everything I had just learned at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, but I could envision the ghosts of all the celebrations past swirling around me in the square. This is to say that the history of Ghana does not feel like it belongs in a musty old textbook, but rather it is still raw and pulsating through Accra.
Asomdwe Park
Following the road east along the shore, you’ll soon come upon Asomdwe Park, the next stop on our presidential history tour. This is the memorial park and final resting place of the third president of the Fourth Republic, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, or J.E.A Mills for short. This beloved president died in office in 2012, but during his short tenure he greatly improved education and health care across Ghana.
The park is situated next to Osu Castle, originally a Danish slave fort and then used as the seat of the presidency from Nkrumah’s time forward. In the early 2000s there was much debate surrounding whether or not the head of government should be housed in a building connected with the slave trade. Today a portion of the castle has allegedly been turned into a museum detailing the history of the fort, but it was closed during my visit.
The Jubilee House/Golden Jubilee House
During the days of the British Gold Coast, The Flagstaff House acted as the seat of the colonial government. After independence, Nkrumah moved his offices and residence to Osu Castle; tales from the years of military coups tell of unspeakable torture and bloodshed in the castle basements. President John Kufour, the leader before J.E.A Mills, started construction on the Jubilee House on the site of the former Flagstaff House and by 2008 the new presidential residence was ready for use.
Scandal broke out surrounding the cost of the Jubilee House, which has since been renamed the Golden Jubilee House under current President Nana Akuffo-Addo, due to the 50 million dollar price tag that went along with its construction. While most agreed that Osu Castle was no longer a suitable home for the president, many had a hard time justifying spending such a large amount of tax payer’s money on a private residence.
From an architectural standpoint, the Golden Jubilee House is a modern wonder. Designed to resemble the golden stools used by the leaders of the Ashanti people, the building is unlike any other in Accra. Taking pictures, not only of the Jubilee House but all around Accra, is bit tricky. Some people view taking photos of buildings and monuments as a sign of disrespect (one guy yelled at me, “You wouldn’t take photos of the White House, so why do you think its ok to take photos here?” Of course, millions of people take photos of the White House every year and we think nothing of it, but photography is a much more sensitive subject in West Africa and simply “liking the architecture” won’t cut it with some officials). This thinking also ignores the fact that there are images of the Golden Jubilee House all over the internet and social media, so while I didn’t take a photo of the building out of respect while I was there, I have uploaded a photo from Wikipedia for you to see the famed residence above.
What had merely begun as a visit to a presidential mausoleum turned into a full serving of modern Ghanaian history that took me from Kwame Nkrumah’s claims for independence to Nana Akuffo-Addo taking up residency at the Golden Jubilee House. This day was a reminder of how little I knew about the world and just how much I needed to learn. I wanted to match the enthusiasm of my guide at the memorial park by being an equally eager pupil. As the people of Accra embraced me with open arms, I answered back, “Teach me. I am listening.”
