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The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
“Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” —David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
The Second Emancipation, a work of Odyssean dimension, recasts the liberation of post–World War II colonial Africa and the American civil rights struggle through the lens of Ghana’s revolutionary visionary Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), who emerges as the most significant African leader of the twentieth century. Determined that readers fully understand Nkrumah’s legacy, bestselling author of Born in Blackness Howard W. French newly dramatizes the Nkrumah story—his humble beginnings, his momentous experience in Harlem, his American education, and his return to Ghana in the final years of British subjugation. The language soars as French evokes an entire continent in the throes of liberation and a roiling United States in the Cold War era. In its dramatic depiction of a continent that once exuded the promise of a newly won freedom, The Second Emancipation is a generational work that positions not only Africa but also the American civil rights movement at the forefront of modern-day history.
The Second Emancipation, a work of Odyssean dimension, recasts the liberation of post–World War II colonial Africa and the American civil rights struggle through the lens of Ghana’s revolutionary visionary Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), who emerges as the most significant African leader of the twentieth century. Determined that readers fully understand Nkrumah’s legacy, bestselling author of Born in Blackness Howard W. French newly dramatizes the Nkrumah story—his humble beginnings, his momentous experience in Harlem, his American education, and his return to Ghana in the final years of British subjugation. The language soars as French evokes an entire continent in the throes of liberation and a roiling United States in the Cold War era. In its dramatic depiction of a continent that once exuded the promise of a newly won freedom, The Second Emancipation is a generational work that positions not only Africa but also the American civil rights movement at the forefront of modern-day history.
512 pages, Hardcover
Published August 26, 2025
42 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
About the author
Howard W. French
12 books180 followersHoward W. French is an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he has taught both journalism and photography since 2008. For many years, he was a Senior Writer for The New York Times, where he spent most of a nearly 23 year career as a foreign correspondent, working in and traveling to over 100 countries on five continents.
From 1979 to 1986, he lived in West Africa, where he worked as a translator, taught English literature at the University of Ivory Coast, and lived as a freelance reporter.
Until July 2008, he was the chief of the newspaper’s Shanghai bureau. Prior to this assignment, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Mr. French’s work for the newspaper in both Africa and in China has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He has won numerous other awards, including the Overseas Press Club award and the Grantham Prize. French speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish.
From 1979 to 1986, he lived in West Africa, where he worked as a translator, taught English literature at the University of Ivory Coast, and lived as a freelance reporter.
Until July 2008, he was the chief of the newspaper’s Shanghai bureau. Prior to this assignment, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Mr. French’s work for the newspaper in both Africa and in China has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He has won numerous other awards, including the Overseas Press Club award and the Grantham Prize. French speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish.
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June 27, 2025
Book Review: The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide by Howard W. French
Howard W. French’s The Second Emancipation is a monumental reclamation of Kwame Nkrumah’s legacy and the transformative power of Pan-Africanism during the mid-20th century. As a woman and avid reader of postcolonial studies, I was struck by French’s ability to weave geopolitical analysis with intimate biographical detail, crafting a narrative that is as emotionally resonant as it is intellectually rigorous. The book’s central thesis—that Africa’s decolonization was not merely a regional event but a catalyst for global Black liberation—left me both inspired and unsettled, grappling with the weight of historical erasure and the urgency of its correction.
French’s portrayal of Nkrumah’s early years—from his humble beginnings in Ghana to his formative experiences in Depression-era Harlem and radical intellectual circles—is particularly compelling. I found myself moved by the juxtaposition of Nkrumah’s personal journey with the broader currents of Black internationalism, a narrative that underscores how individual lives can embody collective struggles. The sections on Nkrumah’s interactions with figures like W.E.B. Du Bois and C.L.R. James resonated deeply, highlighting the often-overlooked diasporic dialogues that shaped Pan-African thought. French’s prose, elegant yet incisive, mirrors the “cultural effervescence” he describes, immersing the reader in the optimism and ideological fervor of the era.
However, the book’s focus on Nkrumah’s charismatic leadership occasionally sidelines the contributions of women and grassroots movements to Pan-Africanism. While French acknowledges systemic neglect of Africa’s historical agency, I wished for a more explicit examination of how gender intersected with liberation struggles—especially given the vital roles women played in Ghana’s independence and beyond. Additionally, the tragic arc of Nkrumah’s overthrow, while meticulously documented, risks overshadowing the enduring relevance of his ideas. A deeper exploration of contemporary Pan-African movements could have bridged past and present more effectively.
Strengths:
-Epic Scope: Masterfully connects personal biography to global historical shifts.
-Narrative Power: French’s journalistic flair brings history to life without sacrificing academic depth.
-Corrective Lens: Challenges Eurocentric narratives of modernity and civil rights.
Critiques:
-Gendered Omissions: Women’s roles in Pan-Africanism merit fuller integration.
-Present-Day Resonance: The epilogue feels truncated; a forward-looking analysis would strengthen the call to action.
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5) – A generational work that recenters Africa in global history, though its gendered silences and abrupt conclusion leave room for further exploration.
Thank you to W. W. Norton and Edelweiss for providing a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Final Thought: French’s book is not just a biography of Nkrumah but a mirror held up to our collective memory—one that reflects both the brilliance of Pan-Africanism’s zenith and the shadows of its unfinished work. For readers invested in justice and historical truth, it is indispensable.
Howard W. French’s The Second Emancipation is a monumental reclamation of Kwame Nkrumah’s legacy and the transformative power of Pan-Africanism during the mid-20th century. As a woman and avid reader of postcolonial studies, I was struck by French’s ability to weave geopolitical analysis with intimate biographical detail, crafting a narrative that is as emotionally resonant as it is intellectually rigorous. The book’s central thesis—that Africa’s decolonization was not merely a regional event but a catalyst for global Black liberation—left me both inspired and unsettled, grappling with the weight of historical erasure and the urgency of its correction.
French’s portrayal of Nkrumah’s early years—from his humble beginnings in Ghana to his formative experiences in Depression-era Harlem and radical intellectual circles—is particularly compelling. I found myself moved by the juxtaposition of Nkrumah’s personal journey with the broader currents of Black internationalism, a narrative that underscores how individual lives can embody collective struggles. The sections on Nkrumah’s interactions with figures like W.E.B. Du Bois and C.L.R. James resonated deeply, highlighting the often-overlooked diasporic dialogues that shaped Pan-African thought. French’s prose, elegant yet incisive, mirrors the “cultural effervescence” he describes, immersing the reader in the optimism and ideological fervor of the era.
However, the book’s focus on Nkrumah’s charismatic leadership occasionally sidelines the contributions of women and grassroots movements to Pan-Africanism. While French acknowledges systemic neglect of Africa’s historical agency, I wished for a more explicit examination of how gender intersected with liberation struggles—especially given the vital roles women played in Ghana’s independence and beyond. Additionally, the tragic arc of Nkrumah’s overthrow, while meticulously documented, risks overshadowing the enduring relevance of his ideas. A deeper exploration of contemporary Pan-African movements could have bridged past and present more effectively.
Strengths:
-Epic Scope: Masterfully connects personal biography to global historical shifts.
-Narrative Power: French’s journalistic flair brings history to life without sacrificing academic depth.
-Corrective Lens: Challenges Eurocentric narratives of modernity and civil rights.
Critiques:
-Gendered Omissions: Women’s roles in Pan-Africanism merit fuller integration.
-Present-Day Resonance: The epilogue feels truncated; a forward-looking analysis would strengthen the call to action.
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5) – A generational work that recenters Africa in global history, though its gendered silences and abrupt conclusion leave room for further exploration.
Thank you to W. W. Norton and Edelweiss for providing a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Final Thought: French’s book is not just a biography of Nkrumah but a mirror held up to our collective memory—one that reflects both the brilliance of Pan-Africanism’s zenith and the shadows of its unfinished work. For readers invested in justice and historical truth, it is indispensable.
September 11, 2025
Brilliant book about much more than Nkrumah, taking in the whole drama of African decolonisation linked with the intellectual explosion of the civil rights movement in America. He’s a good writer too.
Read
October 27, 2025On 6 March 1957 the British colony of the Gold Coast ceased to exist and Kwame Nkrumah became the first prime minister of Ghana. It was an unprecedented moment: Nkrumah was the first leader across sub-Saharan Africa to wrest power from colonial rule and form an independent state. For Nkrumah it was just the beginning: ‘Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent’, he announced at the independence ceremony.
This declaration of Pan-Africanism was a heralding of the ideology for which Nkrumah would gain great renown. He was not its father, of course, nor has Pan-Africanism a clear and direct lineage. If anyone may be considered its patriarch, then it is the American sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, whose writings brought the movement onto the world stage and who took a leading role in the First Pan-African Conference, held in London in 1900. It was a significant moment, then, when Du Bois first met Nkrumah in 1945 at the fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester.
Emerging from the Second World War, when the veneer of European colonial hegemony throughout its empires had cracked, the great swell of a far older fight for freedom rose to meet Pan-African ideals from across the Atlantic. The ways in which citizen rights in the United States came to be intimately linked to the end of imperial domination of Africans by Europeans is a major theme of Howard W. French’s The Second Emancipation. ‘Few remember’, French writes, ‘how freedom for Africans was accompanied by and indeed became deeply entangled with the conquest by African Americans of their full political rights’. French explores this entwinement through the life of Nkrumah to ‘illuminate his age – a time of extraordinary possibility for Africa and for Black people the world over’. Nkrumah is the centre of gravity to which French always returns as he weaves wider narratives. He gives biographical treatment to many of those in Nkrumah’s orbit, or he in theirs. It is a cast of many, including visionary thinkers, writers, activists, and fellow pioneers of Pan-Africanism such as Edward Wilmot Blyden, Marcus Garvey, J.E. Casely Hayford, C.L.R. James, and George Padmore.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Jonathan M. Jackson is a research associate at the University of Oxford.
This declaration of Pan-Africanism was a heralding of the ideology for which Nkrumah would gain great renown. He was not its father, of course, nor has Pan-Africanism a clear and direct lineage. If anyone may be considered its patriarch, then it is the American sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, whose writings brought the movement onto the world stage and who took a leading role in the First Pan-African Conference, held in London in 1900. It was a significant moment, then, when Du Bois first met Nkrumah in 1945 at the fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester.
Emerging from the Second World War, when the veneer of European colonial hegemony throughout its empires had cracked, the great swell of a far older fight for freedom rose to meet Pan-African ideals from across the Atlantic. The ways in which citizen rights in the United States came to be intimately linked to the end of imperial domination of Africans by Europeans is a major theme of Howard W. French’s The Second Emancipation. ‘Few remember’, French writes, ‘how freedom for Africans was accompanied by and indeed became deeply entangled with the conquest by African Americans of their full political rights’. French explores this entwinement through the life of Nkrumah to ‘illuminate his age – a time of extraordinary possibility for Africa and for Black people the world over’. Nkrumah is the centre of gravity to which French always returns as he weaves wider narratives. He gives biographical treatment to many of those in Nkrumah’s orbit, or he in theirs. It is a cast of many, including visionary thinkers, writers, activists, and fellow pioneers of Pan-Africanism such as Edward Wilmot Blyden, Marcus Garvey, J.E. Casely Hayford, C.L.R. James, and George Padmore.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Jonathan M. Jackson is a research associate at the University of Oxford.
November 24, 2025
I'm a big fan of French's since reading Everything Under the Heavens in 2017. I'm also a long-time student of African politics and history. The last couple of years have been fruitful in this area for readers of English-speaking history like me. Biographies of Frantz Fanon (Adam Schatz), and Patrice Lumumba (Stuart Reid), as well as an extensive history of the African continent (Zeinab Badawi) have populated my recent To Read, and Read, lists.
I knew a great deal about Nkrumah and Ghana's independence before reading French's book. I studied African history and politics as both an undergrad and graduate student in the last century. It's difficult to find good history on theses subjects, even though I search regularly to find it. Regardless of my background, I still found French's volume informative and edifying.
Even if you don't have knowledge of these subjects, this book is still worth reading if you have interest. It should have appeal to the general reader as well. Given the reviews I've read about this book, it appears that is holding true. For me, it was a stroke of good fortune when I found this in my local library.
The authors theme, and narrative of, the links between the Pan-Africanist movement and the American civil rights movement were the most interesting and fascinating elements of this deeply-researched, and thoroughly-reported story. I didn't realize the close, and extensive, links between the two movements beyond basic knowledge of ML King, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, W.E.B. DuBois, and a few other Americans' involvement.
As a journalist by trade, French writes history like a journalist (no surprise!), rather than like an academic. However, his book delivers all the intellectual and historical heft of the latter, including extensive end notes. The man knows his stuff and writes about it in a clear way that is easy for the layperson to read, comprehend and digest. I'm declaring this the best book I've read in 2025.
My one quibble with this book is the lack of a bibliography. I usually pore over those in the books I read, e.g., a LOT of diverse histories, and note related volumes and add them to my To Read lists. The end notes contain similar information but in a form that is much harder to peruse. My aging eyes have difficulty sorting through the microscopic print of more than thirty pages of well-documented end notes.
Since I don't read most of the notes cited, I have to go back and scroll to find the initial source for the notes I do read. It's time consuming and challenging, but that's my personal gripe that might not bother anybody else but me. Can't imagine this personal complaint will dissuade anybody from reading this great book, nor should it. That fault lies with the editor I expect, and not with the author.
In the penultimate chapter, French mentions his interactions with Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso in the 1980s. I'm hopeful he'll turn those notes into a similar volume. To my knowledge, there is not a definitive, let alone generally-available, biography of Sankara in English. Mr. French, please do the non-academic reader a favor and write one! If it's half as good as this volume, it will gain widespread acclaim and recognition as this volume has. Definitely a Good Read!
I knew a great deal about Nkrumah and Ghana's independence before reading French's book. I studied African history and politics as both an undergrad and graduate student in the last century. It's difficult to find good history on theses subjects, even though I search regularly to find it. Regardless of my background, I still found French's volume informative and edifying.
Even if you don't have knowledge of these subjects, this book is still worth reading if you have interest. It should have appeal to the general reader as well. Given the reviews I've read about this book, it appears that is holding true. For me, it was a stroke of good fortune when I found this in my local library.
The authors theme, and narrative of, the links between the Pan-Africanist movement and the American civil rights movement were the most interesting and fascinating elements of this deeply-researched, and thoroughly-reported story. I didn't realize the close, and extensive, links between the two movements beyond basic knowledge of ML King, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, W.E.B. DuBois, and a few other Americans' involvement.
As a journalist by trade, French writes history like a journalist (no surprise!), rather than like an academic. However, his book delivers all the intellectual and historical heft of the latter, including extensive end notes. The man knows his stuff and writes about it in a clear way that is easy for the layperson to read, comprehend and digest. I'm declaring this the best book I've read in 2025.
My one quibble with this book is the lack of a bibliography. I usually pore over those in the books I read, e.g., a LOT of diverse histories, and note related volumes and add them to my To Read lists. The end notes contain similar information but in a form that is much harder to peruse. My aging eyes have difficulty sorting through the microscopic print of more than thirty pages of well-documented end notes.
Since I don't read most of the notes cited, I have to go back and scroll to find the initial source for the notes I do read. It's time consuming and challenging, but that's my personal gripe that might not bother anybody else but me. Can't imagine this personal complaint will dissuade anybody from reading this great book, nor should it. That fault lies with the editor I expect, and not with the author.
In the penultimate chapter, French mentions his interactions with Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso in the 1980s. I'm hopeful he'll turn those notes into a similar volume. To my knowledge, there is not a definitive, let alone generally-available, biography of Sankara in English. Mr. French, please do the non-academic reader a favor and write one! If it's half as good as this volume, it will gain widespread acclaim and recognition as this volume has. Definitely a Good Read!
November 19, 2025
The purpose of this book is to investigate how Black revolutionary movements in the U.S. influenced and were influenced by decolonization on the African continent after WWII. The central figure of African decolonization for Howard French is Nkrumah, the Ghanaian independence leader who was respected by important Black leaders in the U.S. and U.K. Like most nationalist leaders in Latin America, Asia, and Africa during the cold war, Nkrumah was viewed with deep suspicion by American and European leaders.
This book traces the evolution of Black radicalism and pan-Africanism from Blyden and Du Bois to the Harlem Renaissance, to figures like Richard Wright, Malcolm X, MLK Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Patrice Lumumba, and other postcolonial African leaders. There are a lot of connections to be made here, as many of these leaders interacted in different ways throughout the 20th century. Overall this was an interesting read, and I enjoyed it, but it was really long, and the way it was organized was a bit confusing with chapters cutting back and forth across time and place. French clearly admires Nkrumah deeply, while criticizing his regime's devolution into (not entirely unwarranted) paranoia and authoritarianism. This book does a good job covering the diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Congo during the infamous Congo Crisis that resulted in Lumumba's murder and the rise of Mobutu. This book incorporates recent scholarship on African history, diplomatic history, and Black history. While it is too long, I would recommend this book to any scholarly or popular audiences who want to learn about Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Cold War history.
This book traces the evolution of Black radicalism and pan-Africanism from Blyden and Du Bois to the Harlem Renaissance, to figures like Richard Wright, Malcolm X, MLK Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Patrice Lumumba, and other postcolonial African leaders. There are a lot of connections to be made here, as many of these leaders interacted in different ways throughout the 20th century. Overall this was an interesting read, and I enjoyed it, but it was really long, and the way it was organized was a bit confusing with chapters cutting back and forth across time and place. French clearly admires Nkrumah deeply, while criticizing his regime's devolution into (not entirely unwarranted) paranoia and authoritarianism. This book does a good job covering the diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Congo during the infamous Congo Crisis that resulted in Lumumba's murder and the rise of Mobutu. This book incorporates recent scholarship on African history, diplomatic history, and Black history. While it is too long, I would recommend this book to any scholarly or popular audiences who want to learn about Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Cold War history.
November 10, 2025
In an effort not to cram this book I tried to read only a few chapters a day. That resulted in a *very* long read time.
The book was enjoyable and well written -- I needed a dictionary most chapters. The way French entwined US and Ghanaian/West African history helped me understand the events of the time and the way the two places influenced each other. I learned so so much, and I do think he re-frames how Africa shaped global history and not just the other way around.
It feels ridiculous that I should offer critique to someone with this much knowledge and standing, but it did feel like some of the chapters didn't contribute much to the narrative as a whole. I also had trouble keeping the timeline clear as French jumped around a bit in time. A timeline in the back would have been very welcome.
The book was enjoyable and well written -- I needed a dictionary most chapters. The way French entwined US and Ghanaian/West African history helped me understand the events of the time and the way the two places influenced each other. I learned so so much, and I do think he re-frames how Africa shaped global history and not just the other way around.
It feels ridiculous that I should offer critique to someone with this much knowledge and standing, but it did feel like some of the chapters didn't contribute much to the narrative as a whole. I also had trouble keeping the timeline clear as French jumped around a bit in time. A timeline in the back would have been very welcome.
August 25, 2025
I’ve been trying to read more history that isn’t European/Allied/US centric. I know I can always count on Howard French for that. The Second Emancipation is about Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), the Ghanaian leader who spearheaded Ghana's independence movement. Surprising no one who has read about pan-African liberation politics, the national military and police forces, aided by the CIA (of course), overthrew him in 1966.
You should read and learn more about African history, and I would start with French,
Thank you NetGalley & Liveright for an advanced reader copy. #TheSecondEmancipation #NetGalley
You should read and learn more about African history, and I would start with French,
Thank you NetGalley & Liveright for an advanced reader copy. #TheSecondEmancipation #NetGalley
August 7, 2025
Excellent examination of the global reach of twentieth century pan Africanism and the pivotal role of Kwame Nkrumah in the development of the concept. As someone less familiar with West African history I found the narrative style very readable and placing Nkrumah in the center of so many important cultural trends shed new light on things I did know. Accessible but scholarly.
October 11, 2025
Everything by Howard French is worth reading. He did not disappoint with this one. I saw Kwame Nkrumah more than I ever did.
Such a lovely read.
Such a lovely read.
December 18, 2025
I enjoy this text very much because of its clear placement of African —specifically Ghanaian —history where it always belongs: next to and included in world history. Yes, this is a story about Ghana and Nkrumah, but the best history cannot be told in a vacuum; world events of the 20th century interplay with one another, and always did. Bravo to this author for firmly placing this important history contextually existing with others.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews