The Big Six: Meet the men who set Ghana on the road to independence

Kwame Nkrumah, Joseph Boakye Danquah, Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, and William Ofori Atta were arrested in 1948 for demanding self-government from the British colonial rulers. These six men were founding members of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), and their arrest led to the name the 'Big Six' emerging.

Their arrest followed weeks of unrest sparked by economic hardship, including a boycott of foreign goods and a march by ex-servicemen demanding pensions owed from the Second World War. Riots broke out in Accra on February 28, 1948, after police opened fire on unarmed veterans, killing three. The UGCC sent an urgent telegram to the British government demanding self-government, and colonial authorities responded by arresting all six leaders and detaining them in the northern part of the then Gold Coast. The arrests backfired, leading to demonstrations by teachers and students, some of whom lost their jobs. This incident became one of the first mass shows of public support for Ghanaian self-rule, deepening the resolve that carried the country to independence nine years later, in 1957. Nkrumah was invited to join the UGCC as its General Secretary on the recommendation of Ako-Adjei and returned home in December 1947.