Joseph B. Danquah (1895-1965) was a Ghanaian political leader and a principal founder of the Gold Coast nationalist movement. As a scholar, he sought to accommodate the best of his country's tribal past to modernity.

Joseph B. Danquah was born in December 1895 into the most prominent family in Ghana, the Ofori-Attas. In 1915 Danquah became secretary to his elder brother, Nana Sir Ofori-Atta, the paramount chief of Akim Abuakwa. In 1921 Danquah went to London for a higher education and by 1927 he had finished his doctorate with the thesis The Moral End as Moral Excellence. He also studied law, which became his principal mainstay and led him to politics in opposition to the British rulers.

Independence and Opposition

After World War II, nationalist sentiment grew. Danquah was instrumental in founding the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the elite party from which sprang all successive independence movements, until Kwame Nkrumah broke...