The Son of Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure
From Social Justice Wiki
"And most of all, both men cherished, projected, and exemplified for me an undying love for our people. All the things I would learn from them, politics, ideology, revolution, how to organize, study, and prepare, were invaluable. But of all the things I learned from them, it is their values that most endure - the integrity of their example, the fearlessness, the selflessness, the incorruptibility."
Kwame Nkrumah was born a member of the Ewe tribe, a minority subgroup of Ghana. The "father of Pan-Africanism" led Ghana to independence in 1957. As a young man, he exhibited his gifted intellectual ability and was given a visa to study in the United States at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lincoln with a BA in theology, then went to London, where he continued his education and met many ardent Pan-Africanists like Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and George Padmore. After his return to Ghana and subsequent independence, Nkrumah became the first president of the republic, helping to establish the Organization of African Unity (OAU), today known as the African Union, and various Pan-African Congresses. However, following a coup he was exiled from the country. Throughout his life, he remained devoted to the unification of the African continent into a socialist state.
Sekou Toure was born of Mandinka descent. In his teenage years, he was also extremely smart, but unlike Nkrumah, turned down the opportunity to study in the United States and Europe. After high school, he became a labor organizer, travelling throught Guinea condemning colonization and French authority. He rose to the presidency following Guinea's acceptance of France's offer to have independence. Although the French government did not believe the Guinean people would accept the offer. Angered, the French government denied any economic assistance and refused to help the country in its transition. Under Toure's leadership, the country somehow survived and served as an example for other African nations seeking indepence. It was the first Marxist state of Africa.
After Nkrumah was exiled from Ghana, Toure not only invited him to stay in Guinea, but offered him the honorary position of co-president. Nkrumah accepted and the two men, with different backgrounds and ideologies, ruled the country harmoniously through their same love of Africa and goal of independence. Kwame Ture met these two men in his first trip to Guinea in 1967 and their influence resulted in his relocation to Guinea for the rest of his life. He believed they were his "political fathers," and he clearly inherited the greatest qualities from both of them. He absorbed Toure's organizing spirit and denouncement of materialism, as well as Nkrumah's passion for Pan-Africanism and socialist agenda.
Back to Pan-Africanism main page
Kwame Ture's Pan-Africanist Ideology
All-African People's Revolutionary Party
Relevant Links:
Wikipedia entry on Sékou Touré