Background
Fathia Nkrumah was born and brought up in Zeitoun, a district of Cairo to an Egyptian Christian 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.
Career
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.
Fathia explained that Nkrumah was an anti-colonial hero, like Nasser, 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. Fathia died on 31 May 2007 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 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.
Membership
Her daughter, Samia Nkrumah was the CPP Member of Parliament for the Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region of Ghana,from January 7, 2009 to January 6, 2013.