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Lincoln Graduate Kwame Nkrumah Led Ghana to Independence
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – Lincoln University issued a National Day of Ghana proclamation in celebration of 60 years of Ghana’s independence from British Colonial rule on March 6.
“Ghana’s history is inextricably linked to Lincoln University through our alumnus, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president,” said Richard Green, interim president of Lincoln University. “Lincoln will continue to honor his legacy in Ghana through word and deed.”
In part the proclamation reads “Dr. Nkrumah is a testament to the ability of Lincoln University to change and impact the lives of people.”
Nkrumah, a 1939 Lincoln graduate, led Ghana to gain majority-rule independence from Great Britain. Nkrumah proclaimed, “Ghana is free forever!” on March 6, 1957. As the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence, the precedent Ghana set in 1957 inspired other countries to seek liberation; 17 African countries gained independence in 1960.
Nkrumah was an influential 20th century advocate of Pan-Africanism and a founding member of the Organization of African Unity, who sought to establish the Encyclopedia Africana to chronicle history and world events from an African perspective, of which he made W. E. B. Du Bois the editor.
The National Day of Ghana is a statutory public holiday celebrated each year on March 6 in recognition of Ghana’s independence as a nation.
Lincoln honors Nkrumah’s place in history with a bi-annual conference, a namesake building on campus, and a digital collection of his writing in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library.
Lincoln created a Pan-Africana studies major in 2015 that seeks to link the entire study of ancient and modern or contemporary Africa as well as that of Africans in the Diaspora with a goal of creating global leaders and world humanitarians.
Article by Shelley Mix.