Fathia Nkrumah
Encyclopedia
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
and the First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
of the newly independent Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
as the wife of the Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
, its first president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
.
Fathia Nkrumah was born and brought up in Zeitoun
Zeitoun
Our Lady of Zeitoun, also known simply as El-Zeitoun, Zeitun or rarely Our Lady of Light, was a mass Marian apparition that occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, over a period of 2–3 years beginning on April 2, 1968.-Apparition:...
, a district of Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
to a Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
ic family. She was the third daughter of a civil servant who died early and Fathia was raised by her mother single-handedly after her husband's death.
Early life
After completing her secondary education, she worked as a teacher in her school, Notre Dame des Apôtres. As teaching did not appeal to her, she took a job in a bank. At that stage, Kwame Nkrumah proposed to marry her. Her mother was reluctant to see another of her children marry a foreigner and quit the country, as Fathia's brother had left EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
with his English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
wife. Fathia explained that Nkrumah was an anti-colonial hero, like Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
, yet her mother refused to speak to her or bless the marriage. Nkrumah married Fathia the evening of her arrival in Ghana: New Year's Eve, 1957-1958.
Leaving Ghana
Fathia Nkrumah was a very young wife and mother of three very young children when her husband was overthrown in Ghana's first successful military coup d'étatCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
on February 24, 1966. She had to take her children to Cairo, Egypt to be raised there while her husband went to exile.
Death
Fathia died on 31 May 2007May 2007 in Africa
This page deals with events in or related to the continent of Africa in May 2007.* The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Sudanese humanitarian affairs minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb on charges of war crimes committed during the Darfur conflict...
in Badrawy Hospital in Cairo due to a stroke after a period of illness.
Her memorial mass was held in the Orthodox Cathedral Church in Cairo by Pope Shenouda III
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria...
on Friday, June 1, 2007. Subsequently, Fathia Nkrumah's bodily remains were flown to Ghana for a funeral at the State House and, following her "lifelong request," she was buried next to her husband at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.
Her daughter, Samia Nkrumah is the CPP Member of Parliament for the Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region of Ghana.