Statue of Nkrumah at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, built in 1992 after the restoration of multi-party democracy in Ghana. (Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en).)
Today, the West African nation of Ghana celebrates its fifty-second independence day. Ghana is the first African nation to declare its idependence from colonial rule, which it did in 1957.
The nation holds a particular significance for some philosophers, because its first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, was himself a philosopher. Nkrumah studied in the United States, earning degrees from both Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania. Books by Nkrumah include Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah; Africa Must Unite! and Consciencism. He is regarded today as having been one of the most influential figures in the Pan-African movement. (He died in 1972.)
In celebration of Ghana’s independence, the Dining Service will be featuring regional specialties. And at 5 p.m., you can bring your tray to the St. Peter Room for a brief celebration of the day, including some readings from Nkrumah. (Yes, that’s the way philosophers celebrate: we read things from other philosophers and we eat.)