By the time Malcolm made it Ghana in 1964, his work to expose the racist hypocrisy of the U.S. government was receiving significant press around the world. Nkrumah, forced to balance a government system that possessed a strong grassroots desire for independence and liberation while being totally dependent upon the skills and resources of Britain and the U.S. to function, was torn between negotiating with the Johnson Administration for much needed material support and making a public connection with Malcolm. So while Malcolm was provided all the respect of a visiting diplomat in Ghana, there was no initial invite or promise of a meeting with Nkrumah. It should be noted that while Malcolm was in Ghana, the American government made it clear to Nkrumah’s Administration that they were very displeased at the favorable treatment Malcolm was receiving in Ghana and they would be very upset were Nkrumah to “disrespect them” by giving Malcolm any type of meeting or other official recognition. Eventually, it was Mrs. DuBois, who at that time was the National Director for Ghanaian Television, who urged Nkrumah to ignore the threats of the U.S. and British governments and do the right thing, have a meeting with Brother Malcolm. So Nkrumah took the still extremely unusual step of agreeing as a president to have a meeting with a visiting dissident from another country, the most powerful country on the planet. The meeting took place.
Malcolm, even in his diary, never revealed much about what was discussed. There was another meeting when Malcolm returned to Ghana months later and Malcolm still wrote little about what took place. He did make note in his diary of how much of an issue it was for Nkrumah, and Sekou Ture in Guinea, to decide to meet with him. In fact, he talks about how when eating dinner at the Vila Syli in Conakry with Sekou Ture, he was able to ask the President of Guinea about the pressures involved in inviting him there. Malcolm wrote that Ture, who he said was constantly adding food to Malcolm’s plate while he talked to him, told him that “African people need dignity more than money.” Malcolm inferred that he took Ture’s statement to mean that true African revolutionaries like Ture and Nkrumah were more concerned about principle than consequences.
