Kwame Nkrumah’s diary goes home on the 40th anniversary of his death

Honorable Samia Yaba Nkrumah M.P. (4th from right), @AAMPmuseum, with Ama Nimley, Vincent Mbirika, Dr. Zizwe Poe, Denise Valentine, Dr. Evelyn Poe, B. Kesselly… (04272012) Photo by Denise Valentine

Philadelphia – The personal diary of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), first President of Ghana, was returned to his family and country today. By order of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the diary was released directly into the hands of President Nkrumah’s daughter, the Honorable Samia Yaba Nkrumah, M.P.

I was fortunate to attend a welcoming reception for Samia Nkrumah at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) immediately after she reclaimed Dr. Nkrumah’s diary for the people of Ghana.

Ivan Henderson of AAMP explained that “President Nkrumah’s daughter flew in this week to take the diary where it belongs, Ghana, over 40 years after it disappeared from the hospital where Dr. Nkrumah died.  This valuable piece of Ghanaian history was retrieved largely through the efforts of Vincent Mbirika, who accompanied Samia Nkrumah to Philadelphia today.”

The Honorable Samia Yaba Nkrumah is a Member of Parliament for Jomoro constituency, and recently became the first female to chair a major political party in the country. In 2008, she founded “Africa Must Unite, for a new Ghana“. In her address to the gathering at AAMP, Samia Nkrumah expressed her determination to uphold the principles and ideals of President Nkrumah to unite Africans everywhere, and to achieve economic independence. She warmly encouraged the young people in attendance.  Our most important task, she said, is to “teach our children ‘self-reliance, self-worth, and self-confidence.”

A USSR stamp, 1989: The Soviet Union’s postage stamp marking the 80th anniversary of the birth of Dr.h.c. Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), issued in the Soviet Union for Nkrumah’s 80th birthday in 1989.

View my Slideshow:

Honorable Samia Nkrumah – Apr 27, 2012

Further Reading

40th anniversary of Nkrumah’s death marked today. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) first President of Ghana, foremost proponent of Pan-Africanism in the latter half of the 20th century.

CPP to mark 40th anniversary of Dr Nkrumah’s death

Kwame Nkrumah Information and Resource Site

Modern History Sourcebook: Nkrumah: I Speak of Freedom, 1961

Commanding Heights : Kwame Nkrumah | on PBS

 

For more information on the struggle to retrieve this diary, please visit: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=236607