Anniversary of W.E.B. DuBois' Death

“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships” - W.E.B. Du Bois

(W.E.B. Du Bois)

W.E.B. Du Bois, was born as William Edward Burghardt Du Bois on February 23rd 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA. Du Bois attended Fisk University in Nashville, TN from 1885 to 1888.

(Du Bois as a young man)

From 1888 to 1890 he attended Harvard University.

(Du Bois (1st to the right bottom row) while in Harvard)

In 1892 Du Bois received a fellowship to attend the University of Berlin. In 1895 he became the 1st African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. In 1896 he performed sociological field research in Philadelphia's African American neighborhoods, which formed the foundation for his landmark study, The Philadelphia Negro (1899). In 1897 Du Bois expanded upon his thesis that African Americans should embrace their African heritage while contributing to American society. Also during this year he took a professorship in history and economics at Atlanta University in Georgia. Du Bois received grants from the U.S. government to prepare reports about the African American workforce and culture. In 1900 Du Bois attended the First Pan-African Conference held in London, England.

(Du Bois in 1900)

During the early 1900’s Du Bois opposed many ideas of a fellow leader in the Black community, Booker T. Washington. In 1901, Du Bois wrote a review critical of Washington's book Up from Slavery (1901). In 1903 Du Bois wrote a collection of 14 essays and published them as a book called The Souls of Black Folk. The book's effect on African Americans was comparable to that of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). In 1905 Du Bois and several other civil rights activists met in Canada near Niagara Falls. They wrote a declaration of principles opposing the Atlanta Compromise, and incorporated as the Niagara Movement in 1906.

(Du Bois (Middle row, 2nd from the right) at the Niagara Movement)

After multiple violent events against Blacks in 1906 Du Bois urged blacks to withdraw their support from the Republican Party, because Republicans Roosevelt and William Howard Taft did not sufficiently support blacks. In 1909 he wrote a biography of abolitionist John Brown. Also in 1909 Du Bois was the first African American invited by the American Historical Association (AHA) to present a paper at their annual conference. In 1910, at the second National Negro Conference, the attendees created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

(The NAACP)

Du Bois suggested using the word colored to involve other colored races to help with the organization. NAACP leaders offered Du Bois the position of Director of Publicity and Research and he accepted. In 1911 he attended the First Universal Races Congress in London, England. In 1915 Du Bois wrote that the scramble for Africa was at the root of World War I. Du Bois led to fight against the release of the movie The Birth of a Nation (1915) because of its racist portrayal of blacks as brutish and lustful. Du Bois traveled to Europe in 1919 to attend the first Pan-African Congress and to interview African American soldiers for a planned book on their experiences in World War I. After returning from Europe, Du Bois was more determined than ever to gain equal rights for African Americans. In 1920, Du Bois published Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil. Between 1922 and 1924 Du Bois wrote in the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, about how Marcus Garvey was the “most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America and the world”. A rivalry emerged in 1931 between the NAACP and the Communist Party, when the Communists responded quickly and effectively to support the Scottsboro Boys, which were 9 African American youth arrested in 1931 in Alabama for the rape of 2 white women. Du Bois and the NAACP felt that the case would not be beneficial to their cause. In 1934 Du Bois resigned from the NAACP. Du Bois took a trip around the world in 1936, which included visits to Nazi Germany, China and Japan. In 1941 Du Bois opposed the U.S. intervention in World War II, particularly in the Pacific, because he believed that China and Japan were emerging from the clutches of white imperialists. In 1942 the FBI began to compile a file on Du Bois. In 1943 Du Bois was fired from his position at Atlanta University which caused outrage by other scholars. Turning down job offers from Fisk and Howard, Du Bois re joined the NAACP as director of the Department of Special Research.

(Du Bois in 1943)

In 1945, Du Bois attended the final, Pan-African Congress, in Manchester, England. There Du Bois met Kwame Nkrumah, the future 1st president of Ghana who would later invite Du Bois to Africa. During the 1950s, the U.S. government's anti communist McCarthyism campaign targeted Du Bois because of his socialist leanings. In 1950 Du Bois ran for US Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket. In 1953 when Joseph Stalin died Du Bois wrote a eulogy of him. In 1958 Du Bois visited China.

(Mao Tse Tung (Left) and Du Bois (Right))

In 1963 Du Bois visited Ghana and met with Kwame Nkrumah.

(Du Bois (Left) and Kwame Nkrumah (Right))

On August 27th 1963 Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana. He was 95 years old.

(Du Bois’ funeral in Ghana)

Today is the 54th anniversary of his death. Take time to remember this great leader today.

Books by W.E.B. Du Bois

• The Study of the Negro Problem (1898)
• The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
• The Negro in Business (1899)
• The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
• The Talented Tenth (1903)
• Voice of the Negro II (1905)
• John Brown: A Biography (1909)
• Efforts for Social Betterment Among Negro Americans (1909)
• Atlanta University’s Studies of the Negro Problem (1910)
• The Negro (1915)
• The Gift of Black Folk (1924)
• Africa, Its Geography, People and Products (1930)
• Africa: Its Place in Modern History (1930)
• Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
• What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas (1936)
• Black Folk, Then and Now (1939)
• Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace (1945)
• The Encyclopedia of the Negro (1946)
• The World and Africa (1946)
• The World and Africa, an Inquiry into the Part Which Africa Has Played in World History (1947)
• Peace is Dangerous (1951)
• I Take My Stand for Peace (1951)
• In Battle for Peace (1952)
• Africa in Battle Against Colonialism, Racialism, Imperialism (1960)

Anniversary of Kwame Nkrumah's Death

“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them” - Kwame Nkrumah

(Kwame Nkrumah)

Kwame Nkrumah was born on September 18, 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast (Ghana). Nkrumah was raised by his mother and extended family. Nkrumah went to a Catholic mission school for elementary school and finished the 10 year program in 8 years. In 1925 he became a teacher at the school. The headmaster of the school taught Nkrumah of the teachings and works of Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois. After graduating from Achimota in 1930 Nkrumah was given a teaching post at the Catholic primary school in Elmina, and after 1 year there, was made headmaster of the school at Axim. In 1933, he was appointed as a teacher at the Catholic seminary at Amissa. Nkrumah went to the US in 1935.

(Nkrumah (Top Right) in 1935)

Nkrumah then enrolled into Lincoln College in Pennsylvania. To pay for his college he worked in menial jobs. In 1939 Nkrumah received his BA in economics and sociology. He was then appointed as an assistant lecturer in philosophy, and he began to receive invitations to be a guest preacher in Presbyterian churches in both Philadelphia and New York City. Also in 1939 Nkrumah enrolled both at Lincoln's seminary and at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1942 he gained a Bachelor of Theology degree from Lincoln. In 1943 Nkrumah earned a Master of Arts degree in philosophy and a Master of Science in education from the University of Pennsylvania. Nkrumah spent his summers in Harlem. Nkrumah organized a group of expatriate African students in Pennsylvania and built it into the African Students Association of America and Canada, and became its president. Also in 1943 Nkrumah met Trinidadian Marxist C. L. R. James, Russian expatriate Raya Dunayevskaya, and Chinese American Grace Lee Boggs. In 1944 Nkrumah played a major role in the Pan African conference held in New York City. In 1945 the FBI started surveillance on Nkrumah. Nkrumah then moved to London, England the same year and enrolled at the London School of Economics as a PhD candidate in anthropology. He withdrew after one term and in 1946 enrolled at University College. Nkrumah was the principal organizer of the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester. The congress agreed to pursue a federal United States of Africa, with interlocking regional organizations, governing through separate states of limited sovereignty. They planned to pursue a new African culture without tribalism, democratic within a socialist or communist system, synthesizing traditional aspects with modern thinking, and for this to be achieved by nonviolent means if possible. W.E.B. DuBois, Hastings Banda, and Jomo Kenyatta attended the congress.

(W.E.B. DuBois (Left) with Nkrumah)

The congress sought to establish ongoing African activism in Great Britain in conjunction with the West African National Secretariat (WANS) to work towards the decolonization of Africa. Nkrumah became the secretary of WANS. Both the U.S. State Department and MI5 watched Nkrumah and the WANS, focusing on their links with Communism. In 1947 Nkrumah ran the United Gold Coast Convention. Nkrumah quickly submitted plans for branches of the UGCC to be established colony wide, and for strikes if necessary to gain political ends. In 1948 Nkrumah organized a march for Ex Servicemen to march to the governor to address their grievances.The march was fired upon by the British which prompted the 1948 Accra riots. In 1948 Nkrumah was arrested in Accra, Ghana for planning to create a Union of African Socialist Republic and for inciting the Accra riots, 5 other leaders of the UGCC were arrested. After they were released Nkrumah using his own funds, began the Ghana National College. Nkrumah became the honorary treasurer. Nkrumah then founded the Accra evening news. In 1949 he announced the formation of the Convention People's Party (CPP). CPP operatives drove red white and green vans across the country, playing music and rallying public support for the party and especially for Nkrumah. In 1950  Nkrumah demanded a constituent assembly to write a constitution and since the governor wouldn't commit to it Nkrumah called for Positive Action, with the unions beginning a general strike. The strike quickly led to violence, and Nkrumah and other CPP leaders were arrested. Nkrumah was sentenced to a total of three years in prison. Nkrumah did not serve the 3 year sentence.

(Nkrumah (Middle Left) in the US)

In the February 1951 legislative election, the first general election to be held under universal franchise in colonial Africa, the CPP was elected in a landslide. Nkrumah was elected for his Accra constituency. Nkrumah faced multiple challenges as he assumed office. The colony was in good financial shape, with reserves from years of cocoa profit held in London, and Nkrumah was able to spend freely. In 1951 Nkrumah earned an honorary degree from Lincoln College. In 1952, the governor withdrew from the cabinet, leaving Nkrumah as his prime minister. In 1953 Nkrumah announced that though Africans would be given preference, the country would be relying on expatriate European civil servants for several years. In June of 1953 the new constitutional proposals were accepted both by the assembly and by the British. In 1956 an assembly voted for independence under the name of Nkrumah. In 1957 the British prime minister, Harold Macmillan, announced that Ghana would be a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations. On March 6th, 1957 Ghana became independent. Nkrumah spoke at the first session of the Ghana Parliament that Independence Day.

(Nkrumah on Ghana’s independence day)

Nkrumah was hailed as the “Osagyefo” which means "redeemer". Ghanaian independence became one of the most internationally reported news events in modern African history. Nkrumah designed the new national flag of Ghana.  Nkrumah opened Black Star Square near Osu Castle in the coastal district of Osu, Accra. This square would be used for national symbolism and mass patriotic rallies. Under Nkrumah's leadership, Ghana adopted some socialist policies and practices.  Nkrumah created a welfare system, started various community programs, and established schools. Nkrumah's response to riots within the country was to repress local movements by the Avoidance of Discrimination Act, which banned regional or tribally based political parties. Another strike at tribalism fell in Ashanti, where Nkrumah and the CPP got most local chiefs who were not party supporters de stooled. These repressive actions concerned the opposition parties, who came together to form the United Party under Kofi Abrefa Busia. In 1958 an opposition MP was arrested on charges of trying to obtain arms abroad for a planned infiltration of the Ghana Army. Nkrumah was convinced there had been an assassination plot against him, and his response was to have the parliament pass the Preventive Detention Act, allowing for incarceration for up to five years without charge or trial, with only Nkrumah empowered to release prisoners early.  Nkrumah intended to bypass the British trained judiciary, which he saw as opposing his plans when they subjected them to constitutional scrutiny. In 1959 Nkrumah used his majority in the parliament to push through the Constitutional Amendment Act, which abolished the assemblies and allowed the parliament to amend the constitution with a simple majority. In 1960 Nkrumah announced plans for a new constitution which would make Ghana a republic, headed by a president with broad executive and legislative powers.

(Nkrumah in 1960)

Nkrumah was then elected the president of Ghana. Nkrumah also sought to eliminate "tribalism", a source of loyalties held more deeply than those to the nation state. Nkrumah succeeded in reducing the political importance of the local chieftaincy. In 1960 Nkrumah negotiated the creation of a Union of African States, a political alliance between Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. In 1961 Nkrumah laid the first stones in the foundation of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute created to train Ghanaian civil servants as well as promote Pan Africanism. Also in 1961 Nkrumah visited the USSR and China.

(Nkrumah (Left) with Mao Zedong)

Nkrumah initiated the Ghana Nuclear Reactor Project in 1961 also. In 1962 Nkrumah opened the Institute of African Studies. Nkrumah was instrumental in the creation of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963. Nkrumah opposed entry of African states into the Common Market of the European Economic Community. Nkrumah also became a symbol for black liberation in the United States.

(Nkrumah (Left) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Right))

Also in 1963 Nkrumah was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the USSR. In 1964 he proposed a constitutional amendment which would make the CPP the only legal party and himself president for life of both nation and party. The amendment passed with 99.91% of the vote. The amendment transformed Nkrumah's presidency into a de facto legal dictatorship. Also in 1964 Nkrumah brought forth the Seven Year Development Plan for National Reconstruction and Development, which identified education as a key source of development and called for the expansion of secondary technical schools. In 1966 the country was $1 Billion in debt. Also in 1966 while Nkrumah was visiting Asia his government was overthrown in a military coup.

(Nkrumah in 1966)

President Nkrumah alluded to possible US complicity in the coup. Following the coup, Ghana also realigned itself internationally, cutting its close ties to Guinea and accepting a new friendship with Western countries. Ghana lost a good deal of its stature in the eyes of African nationalists. Nkrumah never returned to Ghana, but he continued to push for his vision of African unity. He was exiled to Conakry, Guinea. He became honorary co president of Guinea. Nkrumah then moved to Romania due to his failing health.

(Nkrumah in 1972)

On April 27th, 1972 Kwame Nkrumah died of prostate cancer in Bucharest, Romania. He was 62 years old.

(Statue of Nkrumah)

Today is the 45th anniversary of his death. Take time to remember this great leader today.   

Books by Kwame Nkrumah

• Negro History: European Government in Africa (1938)
• Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (1957)
• Africa Must Unite (1963)
• African Personality (1963)
• Neo-Colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism (1965)
• Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah (1967)
• African Socialism Revisited (1967)
• Voice From Conakry (1967)
• Dark Days in Ghana (1968)
• Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare (1968)
• Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonisation (1970)
• Class Struggle in Africa (1970)
• The Struggle Continues (1973)
• I Speak of Freedom (1973)
• Revolutionary Path (1973)  

Videos of Kwame Nkrumah   

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foDlCCudcsE   “THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA, Kwame Nkrumah Speaks!”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTdi8AjZg8  “Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Speech on 6th march 1957 at the independence square”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjK7sZYkMQ  “Kwame Nkrumah Speaks of the ILLUMINATI”

Anniversary of Queen Nanny's Death

“Mother of all Jamaicans” - Queen Nanny’s title

(Queen Nanny)

Queen Nanny was born in 1686 in Ghana and was apart of the Ashanti tribe. Nanny and several other relatives were captured and sold into slavery. She was sent to Jamaica. Nanny was sold to a plantation in Saint Thomas Parish. She suffered hard conditions under slavery. Nanny and a few other slaves ran away and hid in the Blue Mountains area of northern Saint Thomas Parish.

(A drawing of Queen Nanny)

Nanny and another slave founded communities in Portland Parish. Due to Nanny’s community being strategically placed so that there was one way in and out of it they were able to fight off the British who wanted to take them back as slaves. The name of her community was called Nanny Town. It consisted of 500 acres. The people living in Nanny Town were called Maroons. The Maroons were known for raiding plantations for weapons and food, burning the plantations, and leading slaves back to their communities. Nanny was very adept at organizing plans to free slaves. Over 30 years she freed over 1000 slaves.

(A painting of Queen Nanny)

A lot of her leadership skills were attributed to her religion, Obeah. She also served as a physical and spiritual healer to her community. On March 30th 1733 Queen Nanny was killed in the 1st Maroon war in Nanny Town, Jamaica. She was about 47 years old.

(Nanny on the Jamaican $500 bill)

Today is the 284th anniversary of her death. Take time to remember this great revolutionary today.

Happy Independence Day Ghana

“Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue” - Ghana Proverb

(Flag of Ghana (1957-Present))

Ghana is located in West Africa.

(Map of where Ghana is in Africa)

It’s capital is Accra. Its largest city is Kumasi. Its official language is English. The country is 92,099 square miles. 98.4% of the population is African while 1.6% is other races. 71.2% of Ghana practices Christianity, and 17.6% practice Islam. The total population of Ghana is about 27 million people. There are 2 seasons in Ghana the wet and dry season, since it is a tropical country. Ghana has a Unitary presidential constitutional republic.

(Accra, Ghana’s capital)

Ghana’s food consists of an assortment of soups and stews with varied seafoods and most Ghanaian soups are prepared with vegetables, meat, poultry or fish. The dish, Banku is a common Ghanaian starchy food made from ground corn, and cornmeal based staples, dokonu  and banku are usually accompanied by some form of fried fish or grilled tilapia and a very spicy condiment made from raw red and green chillies, onions and tomatoes.

(Ghanaian cuisine)

The Ghanaian national literature radio programme and accompanying publication Voices of Ghana was one of the earliest on the African continent. The most well known type of clothing in Ghana is the Kente cloth. Kente is a ceremonial cloth hand woven on a horizontal treadle loom and strips measuring about 4 inches wide are sewn together into larger pieces of cloths.

(Kente cloth)

Ghanaian music incorporates several distinct types of musical instruments such as the talking drum ensembles, Akan Drum, goje fiddle and koloko lute, court music, including the Akan Seperewa, the Akan atumpan, the Ga kpanlogo styles, and log xylophones used in asonko music. In Ghana Association soccer is the most spectated sport. The national men's football team is known as the Black Stars.

(Ghana’s national soccer team)

From the 5th to 15th centuries Ghana was inhabited and ruled by several different kingdoms. Such as the Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Mankessim Kingdom.

(Ashanti people of Ghana)

In the 15th century the Akan people in Ghana, made contact with the Portuguese and started to trade with them. In 1598 the Dutch joined the Portuguese with trade with the people of Ghana. Other European countries joined in with the trading. More than 30 forts and castles were set up by these European invaders in Ghana, and they brought the slave trade into Ghana. In 1874 the British took control of Ghana, now known as the Gold Coast.

(Flag of The Gold Coast (1821-1957))

There were several wars between the British and the Ashanti tribe of the Gold Coast. These wars lasted from 1824 to 1901.

(Queen Yaa Asantewaa, leader of the Ashanti tribe)

In 1946 Kwame Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister of the Gold Coast and formed the Convention People's Party (CPP). On March 6th 1957 The Gold Coast declared its independence from Great Britain and changed its name to Ghana.

(Flag of Ghana (1957-Present))

The flag of Ghana, consisting of the colors red, gold, green, and a black star, became the new flag in 1957. The flag was designed by Theodosia Salome Okoh. The red represents the blood that was shed towards independence, the gold represents the industrial minerals wealth of Ghana, the green symbolises the rich grasslands of Ghana, and the black star is the symbol of the Ghanaian people and African emancipation.

(Theodosia Okoh, Designer of the Ghana flag)

In 1960 Kwame Nkrumah was declared the first President of Ghana.

(Kwame Nkrumah)

Nkrumah was the 1st African head of state to promote Pan-Africanism.Nkrumah merged the teachings of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr. and  W.E.B. Du Bois into the formation of 1960’s Ghana.

(Nkrumah (Left) and Dr. King (Right))

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his government was overthrown by a GAF military operation codenamed "Operation Cold Chop" coup while Nkrumah was abroad with Zhou Enlai in the People's Republic of China for a fruitless mission to Hanoi in Vietnam to help end the Vietnam War on 24 February 1966. There was a series of alternating military and civilian governments from 1966 to 1981. Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) gained power in 1981.

(Jerry John Rawlings)

The economy suffered a severe decline soon after. A new Constitution of Ghana restoring multi-party system politics was promulgated in the Ghanaian presidential election in 1992. Rawlings was elected president in 1992 and again in 1996. John Agyekum Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was sworn into office as president of Ghana on 7 January 2001.

(John Agyekum Kufuor)

He won again in 2004. John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) became the Ghanaian presidential in 2008. John Dramani Mahama became president on July 24th 2012.

(John Dramani Mahama)

In 2017 Nana Akufo-Addo became president of Ghana.

(Nana Akufo-Addo)

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Ghana’s independence and we would like to say happy independence day Ghana.

Videos of Ghana’s Independence

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOEdJDdz690  “Ghana's independence 6th March 1957”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72NvcHLVDUE  “Prez Nana Addo Full Speech At Ghana 60th Independence Day 2017”