The Big Six were six leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), one of the leading political parties in the British colony of the Gold Coast, known after independence as Ghana. They were detained by the colonial authorities in 1948 following disturbances that led to the killing of three World War II veterans. They are pictured on the front of the Ghana cedi notes. [1]
Considered the founding fathers of present-day Ghana, [2] the members of the Big Six were: [3]
An organized boycott of European imports took place in January 1948. The aim was to get the foreign traders known as the Association of West African Merchants (AWAM) to reduce the prices of their goods. [3] This was followed by a series of riots in early February 1948. [11] The boycotts were scheduled to end on 28 February 1948, a day that has become significant in the history of Ghana. [3] AWAM has become a term synonymous with cheating or profiteering in Ghana. [12] [13]
On 20 February 1948, Dr. Nkrumah and Dr. J. B. Danquah met and addressed World War II veterans who had been agitating for their end-of-service benefits following World War II at the Palladium Cinema, Accra. [3] These veterans had fought with the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force and had not been paid their gratuities on their return home. [14] Nkrumah and Danquah both gave their support and encouraged the veterans in their protest over their post-war neglect. [15]
On 28 February, what became known as the "Christianborg Cross-Roads shooting" occurred. Some Second World War veterans marched to the Christianborg Castle, the seat of the colonial government. [16] They intended to submit a petition to the Governor, Sir Gerald Creasy about their poor conditions, unpaid war benefits and neglect. [14] [17] Police Superintendent Colin Imray, a British police officer, ordered the veterans to disperse, but they refused. He then ordered his men to open fire on the unarmed soldiers and, when they refused, opened fire himself killing three of them namely, Sergeant Cornelius Frederick Adjetey, Private Odartey Lamptey and Corporal Attipoe. [3] [17] This led to another round of riots and looting in Accra during which foreign (European and Asian) stores were looted. The riots lasted for five days. [3] [11]
On the same day, following these disturbances, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) leaders sent a cable to the Secretary of State in London. [15]
"...unless Colonial Government is changed and a new Government of the people and their Chiefs installed at the centre immediately, the conduct of masses now completely out of control with strikes threatened in Police quarters, and rank and file Police indifferent to orders of Officers, will continue and result in worse violent and irresponsible acts by uncontrolled people.
"Working Committee United Gold Coast Convention declare they are prepared and ready to take over interim Government. [18] We ask in name of oppressed, inarticulate, misruled and misgoverned people and their Chiefs that Special Commissioner be sent out immediately to hand over Government to interim Government of Chief and People and to witness immediate calling of Constituent Assembly." [19]
They also blamed Sir Gerald Creasy (whom they called "Crazy Creasy") [11] for the riots due to how he handled the country's problems.
On 1 March 1948, the Riot Act was read. After that, a Removal Order was issued by Sir Gerald for the arrest of the six leaders of the UGCC who were held in the remote northern part of the Gold Coast following their arrests. [20] A commission of enquiry named the Watson Commission and chaired by Mr Brian Otwerebemah was established to investigate the riots. Members of the Watson commission included Dr Keith Murray, Mr Andrew Dalgleish and Mr E. G. Hanrott. [3]
Following their incarceration, the nationalists became known as the Big Six while their popularity increased. [17]
On 8 March 1948, some teachers and students demonstrated against the detention of the Big Six but these demonstrators were dismissed. Upon his release, Dr. Nkrumah set up a secondary school, Ghana National College in Cape Coast, for the dismissed staff and students.
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.
The area of the Republic of Ghana became known in Europe and Arabia as the Ghana Empire after the title of its Emperor, the Ghana. Geographically, the ancient Ghana Empire was approximately 500 miles (800 km) north and west of the modern state of Ghana, and controlled territories in the area of the Sénégal River and east towards the Niger rivers, in modern Senegal, Mauritania and Mali. The empire appears to have broken up following the 1076 conquest by the Almoravid General Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar. A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the kingdom was later incorporated into subsequent Sahelian empires, such as the Mali Empire. Around the same time, south of the Mali empire in present-day northern Ghana, the Kingdom of Dagbon emerged. The decentralised states ruled by the tindaamba were unified into a kingdom. Many sub-kingdoms would later arise from Dagbon including the Mossi Kingdoms of Burkina Faso and Bouna Kingdom of Ivory Coast. Dagbon pioneered Ghana's earliest learning institutions, including a university town, and a writing system prior to European arrival.
The Gold Coast was a British Crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957 as Ghana. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under the administration of the Governor of the Gold Coast. These were the Gold Coast itself, Ashanti, the Northern Territories protectorate and the British Togoland trust territory.
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.
Edward Akufo-Addo was a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the "Big Six" leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and one of the founding fathers of Ghana who engaged in the fight for Ghana's independence. He became the Chief Justice (1966–70), and later ceremonial President (1970–72), of the Republic of Ghana. He is the father of the current (executive) President of Ghana, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo.
The Accra riots started on 28 February 1948 in Accra, the capital of the then British colony of the Gold Coast. A protest march by unarmed ex-servicemen who were agitating for their benefits as veterans of World War II, who had fought with the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force, was broken up by police, leaving three leaders of the group dead. They were Sergeant Nii Adjetey, Corporal Patrick Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey. who has since been memorialized in Accra.
The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).
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.
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was an early nationalist movement with the aim of self-government " in the shortest possible time" founded in August 1947 by educated Africans such as J.B. Danquah, A.G. Grant, R.A. Awoonor-Williams, Edward Akufo Addo, and others, the leadership of the organisation called for the replacement of Chiefs on the Legislative Council with educated persons. whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leaders to include Kwame Nkrumah, who was the Secretary General. However, upon an allegation for plans against Nkrumah's leadership, he was arrested and jailed. The UGCC leadership broke up and Kwame Nkrumah went on a separate way to set up the Convention People's Party (CPP) for the purpose of self-governance. The UGCC was founded in Saltpond.
Ako Adjei, was a Ghanaian statesman, politician, lawyer and journalist. He was a member of the United Gold Coast Convention and one of six leaders who were detained during Ghana's struggle for political independence from Britain, a group famously called The Big Six. Adjei became a member of parliament as a Convention People's Party candidate in 1954 and held ministerial offices until 1962 when as Minister for Foreign Affairs he was wrongfully detained for the Kulungugu bomb attack.
General elections were held in Gold Coast on 8 February 1951. Although elections had been held for the Legislative Council since 1925, the Council did not have complete control over the legislation, and the voting franchise was limited to residents of urban areas meeting property requirements and the councils of chiefs. The 1951 elections were the first in Africa to be held under universal suffrage.
George Alfred Grant, popularly known as Paa Grant, was a merchant and politician in the Gold Coast who has been called "the father of Gold Coast politics". As a political activist, he was th founder, financer and the first president of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in August 1947. He was also one of Ghana's Founding Fathers. He paid for Kwame Nkrumah to return to Ghana from the United States. A roundabout has been named after George Grant in Sekondi Takoradi in his memory. Many opinion leaders have said it will be right to mention his name in the struggle for Ghanas independence the same vain as the 'Big Six '.
Sir Gerald Hallen Creasy was a British colonial administrator. He served as governor of the Gold Coast and Malta.
Founders' Day is a national public holiday observed to commemorate the contributions of all the people, notably the "Big Six" who led the struggle for Ghana's independence. The Founder's Day was formerly called "Founder's Day" with the letter "S" appearing after an apostrophe and it was celebrated to earmark the achievements of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Adeline Sylvia Eugenia Ama Yeboakua Akufo-Addo was a First Lady of the second republic of Ghana as the wife of president Edward Akufo-Addo. She was the mother of president Nana Akufo-Addo.
The Association of West African Merchants (AWAM) was a trade association that sold European goods in the Gold Coast. It was originally formed in 1916 for European merchants to discuss problems relating to West African trade. The Gold Coast branch was formed during the late Second World War as suggested by the government to assist in the administration of the war-time economic controls. The acronym AWAM over the years became used to mean the manipulation of terms of trade to disadvantage customers in favour of traders. In the local parlance, it was synonymous with "Kuluulu".
The Coussey Committee was established on 14 March 1949, after the 1948 Accra riots, to draft a constitution towards self-rule for the country Gold Coast. The committee was chaired by Sir Henley Coussey and published their report on 7 November 1949.
Bankole Awoonor Renner was a Ghanaian politician, journalist, anti-colonialist and Pan-Africanist. Considered to be the first Black African to study in the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1927. Awoonor-Renner was also the first African to be accredited to the Institute of Journalists in London, becoming editor of the Gold Coast Leader.
