Ghana

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Malcolm's trip to Ghana was probably the most significant during his trip to continental Africa as an emissary for Elijah Muhammad's mission to spread the word of the deplorable conditions of Blacks in America. Ghana is located in western Africa on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. At the time of Malcolm's visit Ghana had just become the first country in sub-Saharan African to win its independence from colonial rule on March 6, 1957. In 1951, thanks to the fervent dedication of a radical politician named Kwame Nkrumah, the Convention People's Party won almost all of the elective seats in the legislative assembly. Nkrumah, who had founded the CPP, was asked to lead the new administration. A partnership soon developed between Nkrumah and the colonial Governor (in charge of monitoring [in most cases controlling] the political development of the colonized country on behalf of the mother country) so power was easily transferred into an all-African cabinet responsible to a popularly elected national assembly. In 1956, the adjacent territory of British Togoland was chosen by the United Nations plebiscite (a vote in which a population exercises the right of national self-determination) to integrate with present-day Ghana. Nkrumah and the CPP were able to obtain recognition of their country as an independent self-governing member of the United Nations in 1957. Ghana and Nkrumah immediately became a symbol of liberation, African unity against colonialism, Pan-African unity against oppression, and socialism.