Understanding Political Change in Ghana through Sources
Overview
This assignment asks students to engage with different primary sources and perspectives to understand political change in the Gold Coast between World War II and 1950. Through close readings of documents, students can recognize how historical events, in this case, the experience of the Second World War and the Accra riots of 1948, transformed what was politically possible in the context of the Gold Coast. Students should see that national independence and the establishment of Ghana as a nation state were far from inevitable in the late 1940s as different actors, on the ground in the Gold Coast and from the vantage of the colonial government, negotiated changing expectations and aspirations.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a sample activity for a course in modern African history that asks students to analyze political changes in Ghana through six different primary sources.
About This Resource
The sample assignment included here was submitted by a participant in a one-day virtual workshop entitled, "Teaching the Global African Diaspora" for world history teachers hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History. This was a draft document that may subsequently have been revised in light of feedback and discussion during the event.
This resource was contributed by Dr. Carly Goodman, Department of History, La Salle University.