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This article contributes to the growing interest in the compromises which African models of citizenship education make between Western and indigenous curricular agendas. It traces how Nkrumah’s educational ideals were reshaped by the teaching of human rights, individual independence, enterprise and economic development. We employ historical policy research, a critical literature review and interviews with key officials to construct a chronology of Ghanaian civic education, providing insights into postcolonial dilemmas around promoting national unity over social difference, critical learning and child-centred pedagogy, the valuing of indigenous cultures, challenging social inequalities and the need for the ‘decolonisation of the mind’ (Sefa Dei 2005b).