We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.” Those are the famous words from a speech Yaa Asantewaa made to the chiefs when they were weighing the options of war with the British. Yaa Asantewaa was the queen mother of the Edweso tribe…

Even decades after his death in 1972, Kwame Nkrumah remains a symbol of the movement for African independence that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s. After completing his studies in the United States, where he was exposed to the teachings of activists Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois, Nkrumah returned to Ghana. There, he…

Dr. J.B. Danquah’s lively intelligence and his unending commitment to the course of liberal democracy led to him being described as “the man at the back of nearly all political movements.” Joseph B. Danquah was a Ghanaian political leader who played a pivotal role throughout Ghana’s pursuit of independence and during the country’s…

Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka is regarded as a national hero for his participation in Ghana’s United Nations Congo contingent in 1960-61. He started training as a goldsmith but later switched to a career in the military. He was a member of the ruling National Liberation Council, which came to power in 1966. Kotoka, an outstanding…

Tunka Manin’s rulership is used by historians as a model to measure and compare the success and effectiveness of other West African statesmen of the 500-1590 period. He was the most powerful leader of the Ghana Empire during the 11th century. He increased the wealth and power of his empire by controlling trade and…

Osei Tutu was one of the founders and first ruler of the Asante (Ashanti) empire. Under Osei Tutu’s rule, the confederacy of Asante states was transformed into an empire with its capital at Kumasi. Osei Tutu and his priest-counselor Okomfo Anokye succeeded in merging these states into the Asante Union, a union that was…

Nana Prempeh ascended the throne at just 18 years old. Despite his youth, he showed great diplomatic abil­ity. He tried to restore the vanished glories of his empire and defend its independence against British interference in its internal matters. Within three years, Prempeh reunited the nation.