Adelaide Casely-Hayford
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Adelaide Casely-Hayford, née Smith, was born on June 27, 1868 in Freetown in what was then the British colony of Sierra Leone, of mixed Fante and English descent. As a child, her father emigrated to England to retire in 1872. She attended the Jersey Ladies' College, and at the age of seventeen proceeded to Germany to study music at the Stuttgart Conservatory. After 25 years abroad, Adelaide and her sisters decided to return to Sierra Leone.
She returned to England a few years later to open a boarding home for African bachelors and it was at this time she met Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford, who was a lawyer and a staunch Pan-Africanist.
In 1920, she travelled to the United States to study Afro-American educational programmes for industrial education and to raise funds for a proposed Girls' Vocational School. In the United States, proudly attired in African costume, she gave public lectures aimed at correcting the misguided American notions about Africa.
In spite of Adelaide's opposition to the injustices of the colonial system and her strong advocacy of cultural nationalism, the British authorities had sufficient respect for her. She was awarded the King's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935, and the Order of the British Empire in 1950.
The final years of her life were spent writing her memoirs and short stories. She died in January 1960.
