[By Emma McFarland]
During our first week in Accra, we were lucky enough to visit both the Kwame Nkrumah memorial and the W.E.B. DuBois museum. Learning about the ideologies of each of these leaders from our tour guides and Dr. Michael Williams, current executive director of the Aya Centre, was inspirational.
As I learned more, I began to see their intertwining legacies—both in how their lives overlapped as respected friends and how their activism for social and economic justice was lifelong. United under the ideals of Pan-Africanism, they sought to eradicate colonialism and create a united African continent. Exploring the symbolism behind these memorials shows not only the impact of individual leaders but also the generational benefit of preserving their histories.
Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial
Nkrumah’s burial site is shaped in the likeness of the roots and trunk of a tree that has yet to fully grow, symbolizing Nkrumah’s unfinished legacy. Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana– playing an integral role in gaining the nation’s independence from Britain. However, Nkrumah was ousted by a coup in 1966. His presidency and work in Ghana was cut short– unable to bloom. Even so, he contributed to the nation’s core successes of independence– forming strong roots.
Despite being unable to see the country through to his full and complete vision, Nkrumah’s memorial promises to pick up where he left. A star on the top of the memorial calls for African people to continue to build on the legacy of Nkrumah’s vision of Pan-Africanism. Nkrumah believed in an economically self-reliant Africa through policies such as the Volta River Project. Nkrumah’s desire to make social developments through the implementation of new infrastructure show the continued possibility of growth for the nation.
Nkrumah passed away in 1972. Water around the memorial site proclaims the everlasting impact of Nkrumah on the nation. His everlasting life and abundance. Our tour guide shared a quote that carries the sentiment of the memory of Nkrumah.
“Nkrumah never dies.”
Emerging from the water are a series of gold statues blowing horns in honor of Nkrumah’s memory. These horns are customary to see in the procession honoring a chief. Even after death in exile, his memory is revered with immense honor.
The central figurehead of the memorial, a statue of Nkrumah, faces north. His direction is meant to show that, in the everlasting movement to better the nation, you cannot face right or left. You must face forward toward the possibilities of the future.
Other artifacts belonging to Nkrumah were preserved in an air conditioned room. These belongings are encased in glass. Recent renovations have allowed the memorial to be preserved in conditions better suited for the weathering of time.
W.E.B. DuBois Museum
The DuBois museum is, in itself, an artifact left to Ghana from DuBois. Nkrumah gifted the house to DuBois while he was still president. DuBois didn’t move into this house until 1961 at the age of 93. He stayed there until his death two years later at the age of 95. Before then, DuBois was born and lived in the United States– in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Each room in his house has turned into a site to share his life to visitors. DuBois’ dining room holds photos of his family pasted onto the walls, along with several other civil rights leaders from around the globe. These photos are exhibited to represent the unification of the civil rights movement across nations, DuBois himself having been a devout civil rights activist.
The living room has stools made by Ghanaians and gifted to honor his memory after death. These stools are traditional in Ghanaian culture– places for royalty to sit. Each stool in his living room depicts a different Adinkra symbol representing God, love, and wisdom.
His bedroom and his and his wife’s study rooms have been maintained to show their writings published on the shelves. DuBois himself wrote 21 books and several journal articles in his lifetime. Dr. Williams credited DuBois’ scholarship to having built the robust field of sociology– harking on data visualization to make intersectional arguments backed by research.
A separate structure next to the house acts as DuBois’ final resting place. Crowded around his grave are flowers honoring him and photos immortalizing his likeness. The ceiling was structured in a web pattern. This web symbolizes the continued web of connection that DuBois made during his lifetime. As a leader in the first Pan-African conference and a founding member of the NAACP, DuBois united people from different backgrounds in the fight for civil rights.
Bridging their Legacies: Importance of Memory Preservation
Despite their corresponding ideologies and friendship, Nkrumah’s and DuBois’ legacy and memory is preserved in vastly different ways through their memorials. While the renovations in Nkrumah’s memorial have led to the betterment of preservation efforts, the DuBois museum is just now beginning work on renovations. In the meantime, DuBois’ artifacts sit virtually unprotected– his house maintaining its original structure without renovations since its construction.
Renovation is costly, which has made long-term preservation efforts slow. These memorials are some of the last places of significance for these individuals. If they were lost could lead to the abandonment of their memories.
Visiting the memorials of both Nkrumah and DuBois cemented their legacies as important pillars of history and social justice for not just Africa, but for the world. If lost, we risk losing the foundation of the Pan-African movement and its memory.
I am grateful to have visited these extraordinary historical sites, and hope that their preservation will ensure their memory is passed onto future generations.
