The ''Accra Evening News'' was a daily newspaper established in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

(now Ghana) in 1948 by

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

. The paper's appearance marked the foundation of the press in the country as a powerful means to mobilize people, and was followed by publication of the ''Morning Telegraph'' of

Sekondi Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city and an indus ...

appeared in January 1949, and then the ''Daily Mail'' of

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

History

The first edition of the ''Accra Evening News'' appeared as a one-sheet paper on 3 September 1948, when Nkrumah was dismissed from his post as General Secretary of the

United Gold Coast Convention The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...

. As C. L. R. James wrote:

"The Evening News sold all copies it could print. It was besieged by news vendors, and the editors of those days claimed that if they had had the facilities to print they would have sold 50,000 copies a day in Accra, a town of 150,000 people, of whom a large proportion was illiterate. Copies were passed from hand to hand. This was the way Nkrumah mobilized the people of the Gold Coast against British imperialism. This was the birth of African freedom."C. L. R. James
"Kwame Nkrumah: Founder of African Emancipation"
in ''
Black World Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...
'', July 1972 (pp. 4–10), p. 7.

The paper became a mouthpiece for the

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Conven ...

until it was banned the following year by the colonial government.

References

1948 establishments in Gold Coast (British colony) Newspapers published in Ghana Publications established in 1948 {{Ghana-newspaper-stub