The Evolution Of Pan-africanism And The Gold Coast Nationalism From The Origins To 1960

Résumé: This doctoral thesis deals with Pan-Africanism which emerged in the New World (mainly the West Indies and the United States) and the Gold Coast nationalism from their origins to the foundation of the Republic of Ghana in 1960. It examines the historical evolution of the Pan-African movement which first appeared as a concept during the 1900 London Conference organised by the West Indian Henry Sylvester Williams but had its origins in the previous centuries. The movement developed throughout the years, especially after the First World War when the 'Father of Pan-Africanism', W. E. B. Du Bois, initiated the Pan-African Congress movement and organised a series of congresses which considerably contributed to the spread of Pan-African ideas among people of African descent and continental Africans. Moreover, this study follows the evolution of the Gold Coast nationalism through a sketch over the history of this country from its discovery by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, to the establishment of the Colony, and ending with the achievement of independence and the birth of the Republic of Ghana. This paper scrutinises the process where by the two movements (i.e. Pan-Africanism and the Gold Coast nationalism) which developed separately at the beginning came into touch with one another by the twentieth century, thereby establishing a bridge of communication between continental Africans and those in the diaspora. After the Second World War, the two movements underwent a radical change in their strategies and methods of protest as they both demanded the independence of all African countries from European colonial rule. At this time, African nationalist leaders took over the leadership of Pan-Africanism from African Americans and West Indians during the Manchester Congress in 1945. The main architect of this change was the Gold Coast leader Kwame Nkrumah who made of his country a centre of Pan-African propaganda by organising a series of regional and continental Pan-African meetings, especially after independence in March 1957

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