John Mensah Sarbah (1864- 1910) John Mensah Sarbah, also known as "Kofi Mensah", patriot and statesman, was one of the most outstanding nationalists of the Gold Coast at the turn of the 20th century. By his publications he began the tradition of educated nationalist politicians finding time to write about their countrys history and institutions. A multi-faceted leader and legal pioneer, John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast in 1864. He entered Lincolns Inn in London in 1884 to study law, and qualified as a barrister in 1887, being the first African from the Gold Coast to gain this qualification. ". In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. John Mensah Sarbah was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School, and at Taunton School Devon, England. He explained that he engaged in massive agriculture financing in the Gold Coast. Having successfully forced the colonial government to abort the implementation of the Lands Bill, the ARPS tackled other objectionable colonial policies, including forced labor, taxation, indirect rule, and the lack of African representation on the Legislative Council. /Type /Catalog Concerning the competence and compellability of a spouse as a witness in a criminal trial in which the other spouse was the accused, he proposed that no distinction should be made between the spouse in a Christian marriage and the spouse in a customary marriage. Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window). One of the initial goals of the Gold Coast ARPS was to ensure "that every person may understand [the Lands Bill of 1897] the same". As a lawyer, John Mensah Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fanti laws and of theFanti Constitution. He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. Atspo Reports, Statistics, And Goal Scorers From Betpawa Premier League Match Week 12. [10], The impact of the Gold Coast ARPS' interaction with global pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist movements rested on the ability of these interactions to not only bring the grievances of the Gold Coast natives to the global stage but also to help the Gold Coast ARPS gain leverage with which to lobby the colonial government in Gold Coast to recognize the legitimacy of their cultural nationalist and political aims. He was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan . When for some financial reasons, the Wesleyan Mission closed down the Cape Coast Wesleyan School, he and some other nationalists revived it, financed it, and renamed it the Collegiate School. endobj THE FE OF JOHN MENSAH SARBAH ah Sarbah (June 31864November 271910), patriot and statesmanwas one of te o o g atonalsts of the Gold Coast at the end of the 19th century and the begnnng othe 0 e atng ark on national life in politics, education, and law. He also proposed that native tribunals should be given a definite and well-defined place in the judicial structure. Sarbah is said to have given the school its motto (Dwin Hwe Kan, meaning Think and Look Ahead) as well as its emblem. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. 25 0 obj ARPS successfully defended the interests of native African people against colonizers for decades and began to form an early forum for sentiments of independence. 0000033565 00000 n 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. He played a major role in the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS), founded to oppose the 1896 Crown Lands Bill and the 1897 Lands Bill that . An idea of particular interest to the Gold Coast ARPS was the creation of trade among "all of us who are of African blood". 0000000017 00000 n /ID [<28bf4e5e4e758a4164004e56fffa0108><28bf4e5e4e758a4164004e56fffa0108>] [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. /L 52559 [2][7][8], In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. L. H. Ofosu-Appiah. But his interest in politics, which he had shown during his student days in England led him to take a more active part in political life. They sent Sarbah to argue against its passage in the Legislative Council. 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. [10] In addition to the news of successful anti-colonial movements, the Gold Coast ARPS was interested in the growing formation of pan-African conferences that sought to discuss "questions 'affecting the Native races'". 0000020815 00000 n /Size 51 Alternate Names: Kofi Mensa From Taunton he matriculated to Lincoln's Inn to train as a barrister. 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). /N 3 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. /Linearized 1 0000001690 00000 n [10] This interest in pan-Africanism manifested itself in attempts by the Gold Coast ARPS to hold a similar conference on the Gold Coast, although the idea never came to fruition. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. 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. On the strength of the good reports the school had received, the Wesleyan Mission resumed its management under the principal-ship of the Rev. [2] Although he accepted the basic assumptions of the British imperial regime, he felt that some of the evils of the crown colony system should be checked. << [6], The formation of the Gold Coast ARPS came at a period during the late 19th century in which the educated Gold Coast elite were systematically barred from high-ranking positions in the colonial government. The society also remained elitist, and its decisions were made by a few individuals at the helm of the organization. Had the Lands Bill been passed, it would have allowed the colonial government to take over so-called waste or public lands in the entire British West Africa. On his return home, Sarbah, who was generally known as Kofi Mensah, built up a lucrative practice. The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 and the head cut off by the Dutch. John Mensah Sarbah had opposed such proposals before, and people had expected him to oppose the amendment outright. 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. << John Mensah Sarbah was called to the English Bar in 1887. [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. /E 40017 /H [ 1010 368 ] When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895-97) refused to withdraw the bill, Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to England to petition against its passage. III, 1903. Magnus Sampson, Gold Coast Men of Affairs, London, 1937. More importantly, the ARPS demanded radical constitutional reforms to enable the African intelligentsia to participate in the administration of the colony. But his interest in politics, which he had shown during his student days in England, led him to take a more active part in political life. The Oil Palm and Its Products, Journal of the African Society, London, 1909. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. Members of the hall are known as Vikings as a reference to him who is a true Viking for his country. some cases thereon decided in the Law Courts) Discover new books on Goodreads See if your friends have read any of John Mensah Sarbah's books Join Goodreads B. Danquah. Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS), The Ahanta kings head that was preserved in a jar at a Dutch Laboratory, Coronavirus declared global health emergency by WHO, How Ghanas 1966 World cup boycott led to Africas inclusion, Furious Mesut Ozil agent explains why classless Arsenal signed Thomas Partey on transfer deadline day, WBA and Brighton race to sign Andre Ayew from Swansea City, Ghana National Anthem sang in All Local Dialect. Eventually, the Forest Bill led to the establishment of forest reserves. My latest banger got nothing to do with Mahama - Volkano_KM. Sarbah was interested in promoting secondary education because he felt that it was the best way to enable Africans to gain the respect of the civilized world. 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. Last updated: 14 December 2022. He founded a scholarship scheme called the Dutton Sarbah Scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties.[9]. [4], The Gold Coast ARPS formed as a conglomerate of different groups of intellectuals in Cape Coast and Southern Ghana who sought to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the indigenous Gold Coast peoples from being usurped by the British colonial government. If the content contained herein violates any of your rights, including those of copyright, and/or violates any the above mentioned factors, you are requested to immediately notify us using via the following email address operanews-external(at)opera.com and/or report the article using the available reporting functionality built into our Platform As the third child and a male born on Friday, he was called Kofi Mensah at home and by close friends. He had married Marian Wood of Accra in 1904, and they had three children. 0000020963 00000 n New York: Reference Publications Inc., 1977. 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. John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast on 3 June 1864. 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