African Americans in Ghana

The history of African Americans in Ghana goes back to individuals such as American civil rights activist and writer W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), who settled in Ghana in the last years of his life and is buried in the capital, Accra. Since then, other African Americans who are descended from enslaved people taken from areas within the present-day jurisdiction of Ghana and neighboring states have applied for permanent resident status in Ghana. As of 2015, the number of African American residents has been estimated at 3,000 people, a large portion of whom live in Accra.

Ghana's independence

The Gold Coast was a British colony that was located on the West Coast of Africa. On 6 March 1957, the Gold Coast, renamed Ghana, became the first colony in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa to gain its independence from European colonial rule under the leadership of its first president, Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana's status as the first independent African country and Nkrumah's actions as president of Ghana were decisive factors in the migration of African Americans to the newly established nation, due to the symbol it shared with freedom, and Nkrumah as a liberator.

African-American perspectives of Ghana

Ghana's independence had an important impact on African-American views of Africa. This is because, "[for] perhaps the first time, Africa surpassed America in terms of not only what it seemed to represent symbolically, but also in terms of its objective reality. As a result, black Americans looked to Ghana as that new Promised Land". As Ghana became a free nation, it carried the hopes and dreams of people who identified with the African continent.