Kwame Nkrumah, born on this day in 1909, was a Ghanaian politician and pan-African socialist revolutionary. "I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me."

Nkrumah served as the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957.

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.

In 1960, Ghanaians approved a new constitution and elected Nkrumah President. His administration funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture. Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the decolonization period.

In 1964, a constitutional amendment made Ghana a one-party state, with Nkrumah as president for life of both the nation and its party. Nkrumah was deposed in 1966 by the National Liberation Council, which, under the supervision of international financial institutions, privatized many of the country's state corporations.

John Stockwell, a former CIA agent, wrote that the CIA was intimately involved in the coup that ousted him from power. Nkrumah lived the rest of his life in Guinea, of which he was named honorary co-president.

"I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me."

- Kwame Nkrumah