Kwame Nkrumah Ghana first to achieve independence in 1957 Kwame Nkrumah Ghana first to achieve independence in 1957 Article Topic Kwame Nkrumah history First educated by Catholic missionaries Kwame Nkrumah was the first African-born Prime Minister of Ghana. Nkrumah was a prominent political leader of Africa’s Gold Coast, now Ghana. He also evaded several assassination attempts. Kwame Nkrumah born in Nkroful, Gold Coast he was the leader of the Gold Coast's movement toward independence from Britain during the 1940s and '50s, headed the new nation of Ghana following its independence in 1957 until 1966, when he was overthrown by a coup.   Kwame Nkrumah appealed to President John Kennedy to confirm that the United States would help underwrite the Volta River Project History of  Kwame Nkrumah In the period of African colonial independence, the beacon country from Africa was Ghana, first to achieve independence in 1957. The new nation's most in