John Mensah Sarbah

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John Mensah Sarbah (3 June 1864, Anomabu – 27 November 1910)[1] was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).

Life

John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. He was the eldest son of John Sarbah (1834-1892), a merchant of Anomabu and Cape Coast and a member of the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast, and his wife Sarah.[2] Mensah Sarbah was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later renamed – by Mensah Sarbah himself – as Mfantsipim School) and then at Taunton School in Devon, England, matriculating in 1884.[2] He subsequently entered Lincoln's Inn in London to train as a barrister, and was called to the English bar in 1887 – the first African from his country to qualify in this way.[2][3]

In 1897, along with J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford he co-founded the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, which became the main political organisation that led organised and sustained opposition against the colonial government, laying the foundation for Ghanaian independence.[4][5]

Mensah Sarbah was appointed a member of the Legislative Council in 1901,[6] and was re-appointed in 1906.[2]

In the first birthday honours of King George V, Mensah Sarbah was recognized with the award of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 1910, a few months before his death at the age of 46.[2][7]

Criticism of British colonial rule

Mensah Sarbah was a leading critic of British colonial rule, especially in connection with colonial land appropriation and the attempt to place all lands in the Gold Coast under British imperial rule.[8] He argued that all land in Africa belonged to someone and that therefore any confiscation by the British was illegal.

European imperialism created complex pressures for new African leaders. Mensah Sarbah chose the path of utilizing Western standards in defence of African rights. He used English constitutional arguments to claim that the British had no right to rule the Gold Coast and were consistently violating established African laws. He actively urged expanded responsibilities for educated Africans who could preserve Africa's traditional communal virtues. His multi-volume Fante National Constitution (1906) followed from his elaborate research on customary law. He founded several organizations designed to protect traditional African land titles in British legislation of 1898. Mensah Sarbah thus worked in two worlds, an early example of a leader striving to unite Western methods and African goals.

He also wrote a notable book entitled Fanti Customary Laws (1904).

Contributions to education

  • Initiative of educational scholarships
  • Dedication to the promotion of education
  • Establishment of secondary schools
  • Funding secondary education

Legacy

A residence hall of the University of Ghana is named Mensah Sarbah Hall in his honour.[7]

Selected bibliography

  • 1897 - Fanti Customary Laws: a brief introduction to the principles of the native laws and customs of the Fanti and Akan districts of the Gold Coast, with a report of some cases thereon decided in the Law Courts
  • 1904 - Fanti Law reports
  • 1906 - The Fanti National Constitution: a short treatise on the constitution and government of the Fanti, Asanti, and other Akan tribes of West Africa, together with a brief account of the discovery of the Gold Coast by Portuguese navigators, a short narration of English voyages, and a study of the rise of British Gold Coast jurisdiction, etc., etc.
  • 1909 - The Palm Oil and Its Products

References

  1. ↑ Some sources (including Magnus Sampson, 1969) give 6 November 1910 as the date of Mensah Sarbah's death.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Magnus Sampson, Makers of Modern Ghana: From Philip Quarcoo to Aggrey. Volume One, Accra: Anowuo Educational Publications, 1969, pp. 119-29.
  3. ↑ L. H. Ofosu-Appiah, Sarbah, John Mensah, Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
  4. ↑ Ghana - Early Manifestations of Nationalism, Library of Congress A Country Study: Ghana
  5. ↑ Nti, Kwaku, "Action and Reaction: An Overview of the Ding Dong Relationship between the Colonial Government and the People of Cape Coast", Nordic Journal of African Studies 11(1): 1-37 (2002)
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 27320. p. 3925. 11 June 1901.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Sarbah, John Mensah", in Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 401.
  8. ↑ Ebo Quansah, "Ghana: Celebrating John Mensah Sarbah", All Africa, 25 November 2011.

External links

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