Kwame Nkrumah was born on September 21, 1909 in Nkroful, then Gold Coast (British colony) and now Ghana.

At 17, he became a student instructor and was noticed by an inspector who sent him to continue his studies in the suburbs of Accra. In 1935, a few years after his graduation, he left for the United States to complete his studies at Lincoln University. He read deeply the writings of Carl Marx and Marcus Garvey, which sparked his interest in socialist ideas.

Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in 1947 and became secretary general of the independence party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).  He decided to transform the UGCC into a mass party: three propaganda newspapers were created and became popular, a youth branch was created within the party and Nkrumah gave many conferences.

He wanted to make Africa a great world power just like the United States of America. He said he wanted independence for all African countries. And a name like “United States of Africa”. He called for boycotts and civil disobedience, which led to his arrest by British authorities in 1950 and a three-year prison sentence. Nkrumah also played an important role in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity. He preached African unity and Pan-Africanism, in his book “I Speak of Freedom” he wrote “Divided we are weak, united Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world”.

After the 1956 parliamentary elections, the CPP (with over 700,000 members) won three-quarters of the seats. Nkrumah’s success forced the United Kingdom to concede independence, which was proclaimed on March 6, 1957. The Gold Coast became the second colony to gain independence after Sudan (1956). On that same day of independence, Nkrumah decided to replace the colonial name of the country with the current one, in reference to the Empire of Ghana.

Ghana became a republic on July 1, 1960. It was under his leadership that Ghana made great strides in terms of development such as the construction of the city of Tema, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the Akosombo Dam and the Accra Tema Highway.

On February 24, 1966, while on a trip to China, Nkrumah was overthrown in a military coup that may have been instigated by the CIA. On April 27, 1972, he died in a Bucharest hospital, following a stomach cancer.

Steeven Kodjia, creative director of French Deal, was inspired by powerful and unforgettable words of Kwame Nkrumah: “I am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me”. Therefore, he wanted to pay tribute to him in his new Fashion Film “THE POWER IS YOURS.”, shot in the city of Accra, Ghana.