Kwame Nkrumah

Died 1972

Nkrumah leads first sub-Saharan African independence.

• 1957 CE

  Ghana independence

  Nkrumah leads first sub-Saharan African independence.

• 1957 CE

  Ghana first sub-Saharan nation to win independence

  Kwame Nkrumah leads Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) to independence from Britain, becoming the first sub-Saharan African nation to do so. "Ghana, your beloved country, is free forever!" Nkrumah declares—igniting the independence era across the continent.