Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Ghana: The Black Star of Independece in Africa

Kwame Nkrumah (September 21, 1909 - April 27, 1972)
Led Ghana to Independence on March 6, 1957.
He emerged as one the most influential Pan-Africanist
of the 2oth Century.



Today marks the 5oth anniversary of Ghana's Independence from British rule. The achievements of Dr. Nkrumah and the support from the people of Ghana remains to be a Black Star in the history of liberation and freedom on the African continent. Ghana is known today as the first African country to gain it's independence. Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, and Morocco became independent in previous years before Ghana in 1951-1956. They are not considered predominantly "Black" countries by the West so Ghana is considered the first "Black" African nation to achieve it's independence. However, the achievements of all of these African nations created a fervor and determination that spread throughout the continent.

Note: I had previously referred to Ghana as the first "Black" African nation. This term was something that I adopted in my research of this subject. However, as my best friend pointed out to me, the term "Black" African is redundant since Africa is just Africa. Yes, I know there are white, yellow and brown Africans, but I will just say African for the sake of Black Liberation.

Chronological History of African Independence


Liberia~1847

Egypt~1951
Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco~1956


Ghana~1957

Guinea~1958

Chad, Benin, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Togo, Zaire, Somalia, Congo, Gabon, Cameroon~1960

Sierra Leone~1961

Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda~1962

Kenya, Tanzania~1963

Malawi, Zambia~1964

Gambia~1965

Botswana, Lesotho~1966

Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Swaziland~1968

Guinea-Bissau, Libya~1969

Angola, Cape Verde, Comoros, Mozambique, Sao Tome~1975

Seychelles~1976

Djibouti~1977

Zimbabwe~1980

Namibia~1990



Honorable mention: From the 26th to 29th of April 1994, the South African population voted in the first universal suffrage general elections. The African National Congress won the election and Nelson Mandela became the first native South African president to be democratically elected by the "people" on May 9, 1994.

19 comments:

Thami Mhlanga said...

Africa is where my heart is at, actually Africa is my heart...

easy

Jenell : BlakIzBeautyful said...

HE DID IT ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

WOW!!!


LOL

(I know I wasn't born yet, but sooo what???)


Thanks for the Love Brother Stephen

Stunuh Jay said...

how you doin'?!

50 years, when you think about it, Ghana's just entered middle age. But it's trully just started.

Bolorunduro said...

Nice Blog!
I see hope for Africa.

Stephen A. Bess said...

Thami-
Yes, one heart.

JB-
lol! You weren't even born when Michael Jackson was still a black man. :)Thanks for the love too.

Stunuh-
I'm doing well. Thanks for stopping through!
I can see what you're saying about Ghana. I pray that things continue to just improve on the continent overall.

Bolorunduro-
Thank you. I pray that what you see will come to past. Peace~

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Ghana! I have several close friends from Ghana who are celebrating. The boyf's mum also knows the woman who is in charge of orgnanising all of the celebrations in Ghana itself so we've been hearing about the exciting plans.

Stephen A. Bess said...

NML-
That's exciting! I wish that I could be there just to see. Most of the members of my church are Ghanaian. We did a little something this past Sunday in conjunction with Black History.

whoever said...

Thanks for bringing me home. Very informative.

Hey buddy, just wanted you to know I'm still around and like the new look of your blgo.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I didn't realize that some of those countries are so recently independent.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for informing us!

I learned alot about him in my African politics & history courses.

Tafari said...

EXCELLENT!!! Thx 4 the breakdown.

Bygbaby

Writing on Board said...

Stephen,

Nice piece. I send my thanks and I send you this:

http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=9531

And

http://www.data.org/whydata/faqs/

Stephen A. Bess said...

Nevah-
Good to see you. I'm glad to know that you are still in the blogosphere. :)

Dawn-
Information is powerful isn't it.

UB-
I've never taken that course, but I guess that what I'm doing these days is equal to independent study.

Bygbaby-
Thank you brother and hello!

Writer-
Thank you for that info. It's something to remind us that even though these African nations are "Independent" they are still dependent on the West because there is so much debt and poverty. Thanks again.

Icarus said...

Hi, Stephen, it's been a long (hard) time, but I'm around again -kind of. I followed the BBC World version of Ghana's anniversary, mixed picture. But I really appreciated your chronology of the list of indendences, clear & simple. So much more so than what went into achieving so many of them. Also, grateful for your appreciation of my Way of the World on Analia's a few days' back. It means a lot to me. Peace to you.

Stephen A. Bess said...

Icarus-
Thank you! I really wanted this piece about Ghana to be well received. I know many Ghanaians in my church and I wanted to represent them well.
Yes, your poem on Analis's site was wonderful! I really enjoyed it. Always a pleasure friend. Peace~ :)

Jenell : BlakIzBeautyful said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

U AIN'T NEVER LIED!!

Stephen A. Bess said...

JB-
*Smile*

African girl, American world said...

I'm glad you included Zambia....we would have had issues if you didn't :)

Stephen A. Bess said...

Mwabi-
Now how could I forget about my sister? :)

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