Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngolomah was the birth name of Kwame Nkrumah (down line middle)
A person’s name is their identity and it is the first, most striking thing about a person and the single most distinguishing thing about them from another, only second to people’s thumbprints.
And it is that same way that it has meant so much to the history of this world that the man who gave Ghana it’s independence from many centuries of colonial rule was known as Kwame Nkrumah.
Celebrated even today, several years after his death, as a towering figure in historical parlance and in the fight against colonial rule, particularly in Africa, the times are still kind to his memories and the legacies he left behind.
But just as newer and more interesting details about him and his time as Ghana’s Head of State emerge, GhanaWeb has chanced on details of what the birth name of Kwame Nkrumah was. By now, you should know that he was not named Kwame Nkrumah at birth.
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So, what was it?
According to several historical accounts online, it shows that the first president of Ghana was born and christened, Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngolomah (which became Nkrumah) when he was in the United States of America.
According to historian John Henrik Clarke in his article on Nkrumah’s American sojourn, “the influence of the ten years that he spent in the United States had a lingering effect on the rest of his life.”
Eventually, he changed his name in 1945 while he was in the United Kingdom, during the period he was deeply involved in Pan-Africanist activism.
Why he changed his name?
According to other accounts, Nkrumah adopted the name “Kwame Nkrumah” for several reasons, including the assertion of African identity because he wanted to abandon his colonial-era Christian name (Francis) and adopt a distinctly African name as part of his ideological commitment to African liberation and cultural reclamation.
Also, tied into his Pan-African ideological symbolism, Kwame Nkrumah changed his birth name around the time he helped organise the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester (1945). Among Pan-Africanists, name changes were common as a symbol of political and cultural rebirth.
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The name change was also related to personal reinvention as Nkrumah was emerging as a political leader and theorist. Adopting “Nkrumah” signaled a new phase of his life and struggle, marking the transition from student/teacher to revolutionary activist.
When exactly did the name change happen?
He adopted the name “Kwame Nkrumah” in 1945, just before or during the Manchester Pan-African Congress. “Kwame” reflects the Akan tradition of day names (he was born on a Saturday), while “Nkrumah” is believed to have been chosen for symbolic and cultural reasons, though the exact origin is debated.
Kwame Nkrumah will go on to gain independence for Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, on March 6, 1957, becoming the country south of the Sahara to achieve such a momentous feat.
AE
