Bro. President Kwame Nkrumah

Brother President Kwame Nkrumah was born in 1909 on the Gold Coast of West Africa, and was raised by his mother. Most of his family was illiterate and they lived a typical village life for that time. Bro. Pres. Nkrumah’s mother sent him to Catholic-run elementary and secondary education schools, and it was here where he developed his academic skills and was exposed to the ideas of the likes of W.E.B DuBois and Marcus Garvey. Bro. Pres. Nkrumah met with Bro. Pres. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, also a Sigma man, in 1934. This meeting influenced him to further his education in America. Accordingly, Bro. Pres. Nkrumah attended Lincoln university in 1935 and graduated with his bachelor’s degree. It was at Lincoln University where he pledged Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. by way of the Mu Chapter in 1942. In his Autobiography, he references Sigma and its symbolism to him in his life and beyond. He then went to the UK to get his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.

In 1946, Bro. Pres. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast to take up politics in his home. He stepped up as the leader of their first political party the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), and went on to form his own political party in 1949, the Convention People’s Party (CPP). In 1951, Bro. Pres. Nkrumah would lead this party to an electoral win in the first general election to be held in colonial Africa. His goal was to gain independence from the British, and this goal was finally achieved in 1957. The new country was to be named Ghana; a name proposed by Bro. Pres. Nkrumah. He would serve as the first President of Ghana from its inception up until 1966.