Ghana: First sub-Saharan African independence (1957)

Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) became the first sub-Saharan African colony to achieve independence on March 6, 1957, under Kwame Nkrumah.

• Nkrumah's Convention People's Party (CPP) used boycotts, strikes, and civil disobedience inspired partly by Gandhi
• Nkrumah was imprisoned but won elections from prison
• Britain agreed to a peaceful transition
• Ghana became a beacon for African independence movements
• Nkrumah's later one-party rule and economic statism produced disappointment; he was overthrown in a 1966 coup while visiting China