He was born in
Kumasi,
Gold Coast (present-day
Ghana), on 26 November 1918, to Nana
James W.K. Appiah and Nana Adwoa Akyaa, members of the
Ashanti imperial
aristocracy. His father was a schoolmaster,
Methodist leader, traditional
nobleman and, finally, Chief Secretary of
Asanteman – a position that gave him considerable influence in Ashanti affairs. Appiah was educated at
Wesley College,
Mfantsipim, and the
Middle Temple. During his time in the
United Kingdom, he was closely involved with the
West African Students' Union (WASU), eventually becoming its president. Nkrumah was Appiah's first choice for best man at his wedding to
Peggy Cripps in 1953 ("but the job went to arguably the more influential figure of
George Padmore, a Trinidadian who was political mentor to African nationalist leaders, including Nkrumah and
Jomo Kenyatta" After the
General Afrifa-led coup that overthrew Nkrumah in 1966, he was asked to explain the new regime's motives to Ghana's friends and neighbours. Appiah was intermittently involved in public life as a diplomat and a government minister from then on until his retirement in 1978. His autobiography
Joe Appiah: The Autobiography of an African Patriot was published in 1990. Kwame Anthony Appiah's ''In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture'' was inspired by his father's easy cosmopolitanism. Joe Appiah died in Accra on 8 July 1990, after an illness, and was buried at
Tafo cemetery at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. In 2008, Appiah's tomb was vandalised by unknown persons. ==Books==