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Perkins, Useni Eugene

Kwame Nkrumah's Midnight Speech for Independence

32 pp. | Just Us | September, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-940975-86-6 $17.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Freeman. A testament to what one determined individual can accomplish for an entire country. This picture-book biography tells of Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), who used his education and public-speaking talent to help free Ghana from British colonial rule. The narrative is framed by the occasion of Nkrumah's famous speech, in 1957, to hundreds of thousands of people in a packed stadium when the Union Jack came down and the "tricolored flag of Ghana" replaced it. In between, readers learn of Nkrumah's childhood; his education at Accra's Achimota College and at historically Black Lincoln College in Pennsylvania; and of struggles for freedom for Africans and other Black people of the African diaspora, which led him to help establish the Pan African Congress in 1945. Nkrumah was imprisoned for his activist stance, which the British government saw as a threat, but he worked from prison to realize his dream--and became Ghana's first prime minister, and later president, following his release. Freeman's (Dream Builder, rev. 3/20; The Highest Tribute, rev. 1/21) deeply saturated and colorful illustrations incorporate the patterned fabrics of Ghana, and she strategically integrates Adinkra symbols into every scene. For instance, when Nkrumah sits in prison, his orange and yellow prison suit is superimposed with an Adinkra sign that means "that which does not burn" and conveys imperishability and endurance. An author's note, Adinkra key, and biographical timeline provide additional helpful information.
Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

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