/Names << /Dests 12 0 R>> His suggestion, which was an improvement on the amendment, was not accepted. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. THE LIFE OF JOHN MENSAH SARBAH. [5] The Gold Coast ARPS then sent a delegation to London in order to advocate for the dismissal of the Lands Bill of 1897 in front of Joseph Chamberlain, the Secretary of State of Britain at the time. [citation needed]. [8] This reclamation of nomenclature influenced the naming of the "Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society," as it was originally conceived as a branch of the Aborigines' Protection Society of London but later renamed so as to serve as its own unique entity with a direct connection to the African continent in general and the Gold Coast in particular. << Although the formation of the ARPS was due to the cumulative effects of colonial rule in the late nineteenth century, the immediate reason for its formation was the Lands Bill. It cannot be said that the late lawyer did not engaged in any business because he was at a point prosecuted for invasion of Customs duties which had to be quashed by the then Chief Justice. The Town Councils Ordinance dealt with the levying of municipal house rates. Opera News does not consent to nor does it condone the posting of any content that violates the rights (including the copyrights) of any third party, nor content that may malign, inter alia, any religion, ethnic group, organization, gender, company, or individual. He deduced that his business was a key driver for his journey to better the lots of his people and the Methodist church. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. He also identified the need for good interpreters in the courts, and proposed the establishment of a school for court interpreters but the chief justice did not accept the proposal, and in this respect matters have not improved much since Sarbahs day, in spite of the fact that all judges are now Africans. In 1963, the Great Hall at University of Ghana Legon is named after him in his memory for his educational works including the founding of the Fanti Public Schools Limited which eventually became the present Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast designing the schools crest and motto Dwen hwe kwan think ahead of time. Some other sources (including Magnus Sampson, 1969) give 6 November 1910 as the date of Mensah Sarbahs death. The idea of forming the society had been incubated as early as 1895, but was shelved until May 17, 1897, when a meeting organized by the African intelligentsia in Cape Coast to protest the proposed Lands Bill of 1894 to 1897 culminated in the formation of the society. By his publications he began the tradition of educated nationalist politicians finding time to write about their countrys history and institutions. As a lawyer, John Mensah Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fanti laws and of theFanti Constitution. Many were those who knew the late John Mensah Sarbah as an illustrious lawyer, politician and educationist in the days of the defunct Gold Coast and modern day Ghana. John Mensah Sarbah was the first lawyer of the Gold Coast that helped in the documentation of the customary laws of the Gold Coast and present day Ghana. /ProcSet [/PDF /Text] endobj By Royalvibes (self media writer) | 2 years ago. Methodist He founded two newspapers, The Gold Coast People and Gold Coast Weekly, and became an authority on the traditions of the Fante people. He was eventually honored with the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1910, months before he suddenly died at the age of 46. The great Ghanaian nationalist John Mensah Sarbah, born on June 3 1864, died November 6 1910. assumptions of the British imperial regime, he felt that, PS opposed the Lands Bill of 1897, which threatened, Building on Custom: Land Tenure Policy and Economic Development in Ghana, Exhuming and Highlighting the Nearly Forgotten Gold Coast Intelligentsia: the Life and Times of Prince Kwamin Atta Amonoo V, The Rise of British Jurisdiction in Ghana Jonqil Van, Primary 5 History of Ghana Facilitator's Guide, Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and The, AFRICAN COASTAL ELITE ARCHITECTURE: CULTURAL AUTHENTIFICATION DURING the COLONIAL PERIOD in ANOMABO, GHANA By, The Case of John Mensah Sarbah and the Reconstruction of Gold Coast History, The Commission Shall Advise the President on Development Planning Policy and Strategy, Decolonising African History. John Mensah Sarbah was a good legislator, He was nominated as a member of the Legislative Council by the governor, Sir Mathew Nathan (term of office, 1900- 1904), in 1901 and sat except for a short break, as a member until his death. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. In addition to his political achievements, Sarbah wrote two books about the Fante and played an important role in establishing public schools in the colony. He therefore helped J. P. Brown, J. W. de Graft Johnson, and others, to form the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) to watch over the interests of the African population. [2] Mensah Sarbah was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later renamed by Mensah Sarbah himself as Mfantsipim School) and then at Queen's College in Taunton, Somerset, England, matriculating in 1884. /MediaBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] Instead, he suggested that the dismissal or the suspension of chiefs should be carried out by a resolution of the Legislative Council instead of by Order in Council. Sarbah House, at Mfantsipim, is named after him. /Font << /F13 26 0 R /F19 32 0 R /F25 38 0 R /F31 44 0 R >> ". John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. The late father of the late Sarbah was a business man who traded salt among others, but he added that even though there is no clear evidence that the late lawyer totally took over his fathers business. In 1901 he was appointed to the Legislative Council. The Gold Coast When Edward IV Was King, Journal of the African Society, Vol. His first act in this direction was to found a Dutton scholarship at Taunton School in memory of his younger brother, Joseph Dutton Sarbah, who had died there in 1892. The ARPS delegation met with Joseph Chamberlain (18361914), the colonial secretary, with whom they discussed the questions of land, taxation, and constitutional reform. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the . B. Danquah. 0000001010 00000 n Sarbah was a good legislator. An idea of particular interest to the Gold Coast ARPS was the creation of trade among "all of us who are of African blood". [10] The Gold Coast ARPS's interest in the affairs of people of colour abroad was predicated on the notion of the salience of race beyond the confines of an African context and the global prevalence of racial discrimination. Any/all written content and images displayed are provided by the blogger/author, appear herein as submitted by the blogger/author and are unedited by Opera News. On his return home, Sarbah, who was generally known as Kofi Mensah, built up a lucrative practice. On his return home, John Mensah Sarbah, who was generally known as Kofi Mensah, built up a lucrative practice. /T 51995 From the late nineteenth century to the immediate post-World War I period, the society gradually sowed the seeds of revolutionary nationalism not only in the Gold Coast but in the West African region as a whole as its members contributed to the formation of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA) in 1919. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. He compiled and publishedFanti Law Reports in 1904, but this was incomplete because he was refused permission to take any more notes from court records. These cookies do not store any personal information. C.F. >> 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. He therefore published two books, Fanti Customary Laws (1897), and Fanti National Constitution (1906). In 1963, a residence hall of the University of Ghana was named Mensah Sarbah Hall in his honour for his services to education,[8] with a statue of John Mensah Sarbah is in front of it. In 1897 he worked with JE Casely Hayford, JP Brown, JW de Graft Johnson, and others to form the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS). Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. He encouraged farmers to grow cocoa and gave them loans for the purpose. Opera News furthermore does not condone the use of our platform for the purposes encouraging/endorsing hate speech, violation of human rights and/or utterances of a defamatory nature. Some of the methods used by the ARPS included campaigns in local newspapers, namely the Gold Coast Methodist Times and the Gold Coast Aborigines in the late nineteenth century and the Gold Coast Nation and the Gold Coast Leader during the first two decades of the twentieth century. 2021 Happy FM Ghana - Developed byHappy Ghana. The delegation, which Sarbah refused out of modesty to lead, went to London in 1898, and succeeded in getting the Lands Bill disallowed. The Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed in 1897 in the historic city of Cape Coast, a hub of intellectual and political activism in Ghana. (The distinction, as he had suggested, was to be abolished in 1960.). John Mensah Sarbah (June 3, 1864-November 27, 1910), patriot and statesman, was one of the most outstanding nationalists of the Gold Coast at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. On the strength of the good reports the school had received, the Wesleyan Mission resumed its management under the principalship of the Rev. /L 52559 He was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School, and at Taunton School Devon, England. Among other things, the ARPS hoped to make sure that various bills and colonial policies involving taxation, labor, and constitutional changes would not burden the Africans. Overall, deprived of an effective voice in the administration of the colony and its dependencies, the ARPS served as the main representative of colonized Africans. Over 50 years after his death, the University of Ghana, in 1963, named Mensah Sarbah Hall after him for his services to education. He was also an entrepreneur who set up two newspapers in the Gold Coast called The Gold Coast Nation and The Gold Coast Times with his money. Moreover, in the attempts by the Gold Coast ARPS to engage globally with other anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist movements, the Gold Coast ARPS required large sums of money to fund their trips, which they often acquired by charging tribal heads of local communities disproportionate fees to become members of the Gold Coast ARPS. The ARPS opposed the Lands Bill of 1897, which threatened the traditional system of African land tenure, and sent Sarbah to argue against its passage in the Legislative Council. /N 3 Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, Influences on the founding of the Gold Coast ARPS, Perception of aims of the Gold Coast ARPS, S. K. B. Asante, "The neglected aspects of the activities of the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society. For example, society never developed in the adjoining Eastern Province. In 1903, Sarbah and William Edward Sam promoted an enterprise called the Fanti Public Schools Limited and Sarbah also helped establish the Fanti National Education Fund, which aimed to improve educational facilities in the country and awarded scholarships. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. Part of this critique lay in a disjuncture between the espoused values of cultural nationalism by the Gold Coast ARPS that advocated a fight for the indigenous peoples given the connection that the Gold Coast ARPS had with the British colonial government. In 1898 ARPS sent a delegation to London and successfully got the Lands Bill overturned. [2], In the first birthday honours of King George V, Mensah Sarbah was recognised with the award of a CMG in 1910, a few months before his sudden death at the age of 46, on Sunday, 27 November 1910. /Outlines 16 0 R As a lawyer, Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fante laws and of the Fante Constitution. This achievement saved the Gold Coast from the evils of the alienation of African land, as occurred, for example, in the British colony of Kenya. stream . At the age of 23, he returned to the Gold Coast to set up a legal practice. Aborigines' Rights Protection Society The First political movement in Ghana and the entire British West Africa (An extensive detail of its activities in Ghana and West Africa). arbah failed to sway the opinon of Governor Sir William Maxwell, honored with the Order of St. Michael and St. George, "did not strive for popularity nor was he vainglorious nor egotistical. de Graft-Johnson, Jacob Wilson Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford, and John Mensah Sarbah were co-founders. He died in 1910, without, however, making any provision in his will for the education of his children, probably because he believed that the Akan family system would cater for them. ", This page was last edited on 17 March 2022, at 16:53. He became disillusioned with what he deemed to be injustice in governance from the British Crown toward the Ghanaian people and felt that the actions of the colonial system should be checked. September 4, 1887: Arrival of John Mensah Sarbah, first Ghanaian called to the English Bar, September 7, 1817: Anglo-Ashanti Treaty signed between Osei Bonsu and African Company of Merchants, September 1, 1966: The National Liberation Council (NLC) establishes a commission to propose a new constitution. /Parent 20 0 R He was the eldest son of John Sarbah (18341892), a merchant of Anomabu and Cape Coast and a member of the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast, and his wife Sarah. "The neglected aspects of the activities of the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society. G. E. Metcalfe, Great Britain and Ghana: Documents on Ghana History 1807-1957, Accra, 1964. His Fanti Customary Laws is still regarded as an indispensable book for lawyers in Ghana. Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. . << endobj [2][3], In 1897, along with J. W. de Graft-Johnson, J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown and J. E. Casely Hayford, Mensah Sarbah 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. Specifically, he proposed that in perjury the falsehood with which the witness could be charged should concern a matter material to the issues raised in the judicial proceedings; (His suggestion was to be adopted in 1951). Answer: In 1897 he worked with JE Casely Hayford, JP Brown, JW de Graft Johnson, and others to form the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS). Sign up here to receive the quarterly Journal of African Christian Biography and DACB News (FREE). In 1887 he was called to the bar and qualified as a barrister. Although colonial society was dominated by men, throughout the period of colonial rule several women's groups teamed up with men or supported men in anticolonial protest politics. The Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed in 1897 in the historic city of Cape Coast, a hub of intellectual and political activism in Ghana. His father sent him to England when he was sixteen to continue his education. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Revelation), Education in Africa: The Impact of Colonialism, Why The Legendary Geneva Bible was Banned. Specifically, he proposed that in perjury the falsehood with which the witness could be charged should concern a matter material to the issues raised in the judicial proceedings. [9] In 1903, Sarbah and William Edward Sam promoted an enterprise called the Fanti Public Schools Limited and Sarbah also helped establish the Fanti National Education Fund, which aimed to improve educational facilities in the country and awarded scholarships. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895- 97) refused to withdraw the bill, Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to 0000029963 00000 n [10], The Gold Coast ARPS interest in global movements initially gained momentum as news of the success of various anti-colonial efforts reached the Gold Coast, particularly Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War and Ethiopia's victory in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. He touted the late lawyer as one who represented the largest number of three thousand cases at the Cape Coast Supreme court in his days. x}$9Z|_ /.!3n93. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Mensah, built up a lucrative practice, 1964 1898 ARPS sent a delegation to and. Dacb News ( FREE ) the distinction, as he had suggested, was not accepted deduced his. J. P. Brown, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford, and John Sarbah... 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