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Embassy of the United States, Accra
Embassy of the United States, Accra
Location	Cantonments, Accra, Ghana
Address	No. 24, Fourth Circular Rd.
Website	gh.usembassy.gov

The Embassy of the United States of America in Accra is the diplomatic mission of the United States in Ghana. It is the focal point for events relating to the United States held in Ghana.^[1]^[2]

Leadership

Ambassador is in charge of the Embassy. Virginia E. Palmer is the current Ambassador of the United States to Ghana.^[3]

History

The embassy in Accra was established March 6, 1957, with Donald W. Lamm in charge as chargé d'affaires.^{[citation needed]}

The initial embassy building was designed by Harry Weese. Described as a "glass box raised on stilts and wrapped in wooden shutters", Weese claimed to have been inspired by "towering African anthills and[...]an inverted cheiftain's hut", comments which were later criticized as reductive and possibly a false stretch to portray the building as grounded in local tradition.^[4]

On August 28, 1963, in response to the concurrent March on Washington and the death of W. E. B. Du Bois the day before, a protest was held at the embassy by African American expats, including notable activists such as Julian Mayfield and Maya Angelou, as well as native Ghanaians challenging the John F. Kennedy administration for its contradictory and slow-moving racial equality policies. Although there were other solidarity demonstrations at embassies in different countries as well, the Accra protest was the most prominent.^[5]

In 1998, the embassy moved to a temporary building due to security concerns, with the building later being used by the Ghanaian Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.^[6] A new embassy compound that adheres to the Standard Embassy Design guidelines, implemented after 9/11 to increase the security of diplomatic missions, was completed in 2007 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The former building was slated to become a women's center, but reportedly became vacant and dilapidated.^[7]

A "fake embassy" was reportedly active for around ten years until its shutdown in 2016, posing as the actual American embassy (and possibly the Dutch embassy) and issuing false visas for thousands of dollars, with its closure gaining worldwide attention;^[8]^[9] however, an investigation by The Guardian found the reports to be exaggerated, stating that it was based on faulty intelligence from investigations into actual visa fraud schemes and that certain claims, such as the use of an American flag and portraits of US presidents at the premises, were not true.^[10]

President Joe Biden nominated career US diplomat and Acting Assistant Secretary/Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Resources Virginia E. Palmer for the position on June 2, 2021; she has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.^[11]

References

^ "COVID-19: Ablakwa appeals to US Embassy to prioritise Ghanaian student visa applicants". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
^ "U.S. Embassy in Ghana". U.S. Embassy in Ghana. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
^ AfricaNews (2021-08-19). "USS Hershel "Woody" Williams Strengthens U.S.-Ghana Maritime Security Partnership". Africanews. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
^ Loeffler 2011, pp. 165, 177.
^ Gaines, Kevin Kelly (2006). American Africans in Ghana. Chapel Hill. pp. 168–172. ISBN 978-0-8078-6782-2. OCLC 794005336.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Former U.S. Embassy, Accra, Ghana". Docomomo International. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
^ Loeffler 2011, pp. 275, 287.
^ "How did fake US embassy operate in Ghana for a decade?". BBC News. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
^ "Fake US embassy in Ghana shut down after 10 years". France 24. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
^ "The true story of the fake US embassy in Ghana". the Guardian. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
^ Ward, Myah (July 2, 2021). "Biden names more ambassadorships, including Amy Gutmann for Germany". POLITICO. Retrieved July 2, 2021.

Bibliography

Loeffler, Jane C. (2011). The architecture of diplomacy : building America's embassies (2nd ed.). New York: Princeton Architectural. ISBN 978-1-56898-984-6. OCLC 700033660.