Ama Nkrumah

Last updated
Ama Nkrumah
Born
Ama Nkrumah
Nationality Ghanaian

Ama Nkrumah was a Ghanaian female political activist during and after Ghana's independence struggle. [1] [2]

Contents

Politics

Ama Nkrumah was one of the female political activists who was with Ghana's first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah through the independence struggle and later served in various political capacities. [3]

Ama Nkrumah is the eponymous subject of the opening poem in Woman, Eat Me Whole, Ghanaian author and spoken-word artist Ama Asantewa Diaka's first poetry collection. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwame Nkrumah</span> Ghanaian politician (1909–1972)

Francis Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained independence from Britain. He was then the first Prime Minister and then the President of Ghana, from 1957 until 1966. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.

Yaa Asantewaa I was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire, now part of modern-day Ghana. She was appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Okese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu. In 1900, she led the Ashanti war also known as the War of the Golden Stool, or the Yaa Asantewaa War of Independence, against the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Ghana</span> National flag

The national flag of Ghana consists of a horizontal triband of red, yellow, and green. It was designed in replacement of the British Gold Coast's Blue Ensign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. B. Danquah</span> Ghanaian politician and lawyer (1895–1965)

Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, anglophile, lawyer and statesman. He was a politician in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, which was formerly the Gold Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samia Nkrumah</span> Ghanaian journalist and politician

Honourable Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah is a Ghanaian politician and former chairperson of the Convention People's Party(CPP) making her the first woman to ever head a major political party in Ghana (CPP). In the year 2008 parliamentary election, she won the Jomoro constituency seat at her first attempt. She is the daughter of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Ghana</span>

In precolonial Ghana, infectious diseases were the main cause of morbidity and mortality. The modern history of health in Ghana was heavily influenced by international actors such as Christian missionaries, European colonists, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, the democratic shift in Ghana spurred healthcare reforms in an attempt to address the presence of infectious and noncommunicable diseases eventually resulting in the formation of the National Health insurance Scheme in place today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghanaian smock</span>

The Ghanaian Smock or Tani is a fabric worn by both women and men in Ghana. It is the most popular traditional attire in the country. The fabric is called Tani in Dagbani, while the male and female wear are respectively called Bin'gmaa and Bin'mangli. The smock is formally worn with a hat (zipligu)/ scarf (bobga), footwear (muɣri), and a trouser (kurugu).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanna Al-Hassan</span> Ghanaian author and politician

Susanna Al-Hassan or Susan Alhassan was a Ghanaian author and politician, who in 1961 became Ghana's first female to be appointed minister. She was the first African woman to hold a cabinet portfolio and became the member of parliament for the then Northern Region parliamentary constituency between 1960 and 1966. She also wrote several children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Ghanaian history</span>

Ghana gained independence from the British on 6 March 1957. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country became a republic on July 1, 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghanaians</span> Citizens or native-born people of Ghana

The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of 2024, making up 85% of the population. The word "Ghana" means "warrior king". An estimated diaspora population of 4 million people worldwide are of Ghanaian descent. The term ethnic Ghanaian may also be used in some contexts to refer to a group of related ethnic groups native to the Gold Coast.

The history of African Americans in Ghana goes back to individuals such as American civil rights activist and writer W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), who settled in Ghana in the last years of his life and is buried in the capital, Accra. Since then, other African Americans who are descended from slaves imported from areas within the present-day jurisdiction of Ghana and neighboring states have applied for permanent resident status in Ghana. As of 2015, the number of African American residents has been estimated at around 3,000 people, a large portion of whom live in Accra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Ofori-Atta</span> Ghanaian physician (1917–1985)

Susan Barbara Gyankorama Ofori-Atta, also de Graft-Johnson, was a Ghanaian medical doctor who was the first female doctor on the Gold Coast. She was the first Ghanaian woman and fourth West African woman to earn a university degree. Ofori-Atta was also the third West African woman to become a physician after the Nigerians Agnes Yewande Savage (1929) and Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi (1938). In 1933, Sierra Leonean political activist and higher education pioneer, Edna Elliot-Horton became the second West African woman university graduate and the first to earn a bachelor's degree in the liberal arts. Eventually Ofori-Atta became a medical officer-in-charge at the Kumasi Hospital, and later, she assumed in charge of the Princess Louise Hospital for Women. Her contemporary was Matilda J. Clerk, the second Ghanaian woman and fourth West African woman to become a physician, who was also educated at Achimota and Edinburgh. Ofori-Atta was made an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Ghana for her work on malnutrition in children, and received the Royal Cross from Pope John Paul II when he visited Ghana in 1980, in recognition of her offering of free medical services at her clinic. She helped to establish the Women's Society for Public Affairs and was a Foundation Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her achievements were a symbol of inspiration to aspiring women physicians in Ghana.

Mabel Dove Danquah was a Gold Coast-born journalist, political activist, and creative writer, one of the earliest women in West Africa to work in these fields. As Francis Elsbend Kofigah notes in relation to Ghana's literary pioneers, "before the emergence of such strong exponents of literary feminism as Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo, there was Mabel Dove Danquah, the trail-blazing feminist." She used various pseudonyms in her writing for newspapers from the 1930s: "Marjorie Mensah" in The Times of West Africa; "Dama Dumas" in the African Morning Post; "Ebun Alakija" in the Nigerian Daily Times; and "Akosua Dzatsui" in the Accra Evening News. Entering politics in the 1950s before Ghana's independence, she became the first woman to be elected a member of any African legislative assembly. She created the awareness and the need for self-governance through her works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Kudjoe</span> Ghanaian activist (1918–1986)

Hannah Esi Badu Kudjoe, née Hannah Dadson, was a prominent activist for Ghanaian independence in the 1940s and 1950s. She was one of the first high-profile female nationalists in the movement, and was the National Propaganda Secretary for the Convention People's Party. She was a political activist during the government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. She was also an active philanthropist and worked to improve women's lives in Northern Ghana. Hannah had the ability to bring people together. She was able to convince others to support and fight for independence. She helped Kwame Nkrumah in bringing people to join the CPP and support it. She once helped the Big Six when they were arrested by bringing people together to call for their release by the colonial government.

Sophia Margaret Oboshie Doku was a Ghanaian politician and one of the first female parliamentarians in the First Parliament of the First Republic of Ghana under Ghana's first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Esi Sutherland-Addy is a Ghanaian academic, writer, educationalist, and human rights activist. She is a professor at the Institute of African Studies, where she has been senior research fellow, head of the Language, Literature, and Drama Section, and associate director of the African Humanities Institute Program at the University of Ghana. She is credited with more than 60 publications in the areas of education policy, higher education, female education, literature, theatre and culture, and serves on numerous committees, boards and commissions locally and internationally. She is the first daughter of writer and cultural activist Efua Sutherland.

Akua Asabea Ayisi was a feminist, former High Court Judge and the first female Ghanaian journalist. During the rise of the Ghanaian independence movement, Akua Asabea Ayisi trained as a journalist with Mabel Dove-Danquah and Kwame Nkrumah, who would later become the country's first prime minister and president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felicia Abban</span> Ghanaian photographer (1936/1937 – 2024)

Felicia Ewuraesi Abban was Ghana's first female professional photographer. She worked as a photographer for the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, for a number of years during the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Oforiwa Tagoe-Quarcoopome</span>

Agnes Oforiwa Tagoe-Quarcoopome, also known as Auntie Oforiwa, was one of the women who supported Kwame Nkrumah in the fight for Ghanaian independence. She was also a market queen.

References

  1. "Column: Women and the movement for African unity & socialism – Today Newspaper". www.todaygh.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  2. "National Commission On Culture". www.ghanaculture.gov.gh. Archived from the original on 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  3. "Women at forefront of Africa's liberation struggles". www.workers.org. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  4. Diaka, Ama Asantewa (2022). Woman, Eat Me Whole. New York: Ecco. p. 87. ISBN   9780063092914.