John Mensah Sarbah CMG (3 June 1864 27 November 1910)[1] was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Furthermore, some of its members joined in the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) which eventually lead to the independence of Ghana. (The distinction, as he had suggested, was to be abolished in 1960.). 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. 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. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. Crises and Transitions in African Historiography (1950-1990), Essential History Primary 5 Teacher's Guide, [Ghanabib 1819 1979 Prepared 23/11/2011] [Ghanabib 1980 1999 Prepared 30/12/2011] [Ghanabib 2000 2005 Prepared 03/03, The Politics of Educational Borrowing: Reopening the Case of Achimota in British Ghana Author(S): Gita SteinerKhamsi and Hubert O, Migration from Historic Mission Churches to Pentecostal Churches in Ghana by REV, Singapore in Global History Singaporederek Heng Is Assistant Professor at the History in Singapore in Department, Ohio State University, Nationalism in Question: a Study of Key Categories in Ghanaian History 1863-1965, Colonialism, Maritime Culture and Conflict in Southern Gold Coast, 18601932, KWAME NKRUMAHS CONTRIBUTION to PAN-AFRICANISM an Afrocentric Analysis D.Zizwe Poe, Resource Flows and Technology Adoption in Tamale, Ghana: Implications for Urban and Peri-Urban Vegetable Growers. The Gold Coast When Edward IV Was King, Journal of the African Society, Vol. He compiled and published Fanti Law Reports in 1904, but this was incomplete because he was refused permission to take any more notes from court records. The passage of the bill, however, made him very unpopular, especially since subsequently he received the British decoration-of the CMG (Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St.George), an honor some thought that he had sought, though he denied it. He waborn at Cape Coast in 1864and was the eldest son of John Sarbaha merh nd o SaahHe 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. The Mfantsi Amanbuhu Fekuw had been founded in 1889 to promote African cultural values that were being undermined by the corrosive effects of the European presence. [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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. 23 0 obj Early Life 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. S. Tenkorang, John Mensah Sarbah, 18641910, in Transactions of the HYistorical Society of Ghana, Vol. 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. Join our whatsapp page, This website uses cookies. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. He became known for defending the rights of Africans against British colonial authorities. This led in 1904 to the foundation of Mfantsipim School, which in 1906 merged with the Collegiate School, retaining the name of Mfantsipim School. Last updated: 14 December 2022. >> << The ARPS had been preceded by the activities of the Mfantsi Amanbuhu Fekuw (Fante National Association), led by members of the African intelligentsia, including John Mensah Sarbah, J. W. de Graft Johnson, Chief J. D. Abraham, and J. P. Brown. John Mensah Sarbah returned the 400-guinea fee which the ARPS gave him because he felt that it was an honor to serve his country. 65, 76. After qualifying in his profession, Sarbah returned to the Gold Coast and founded his own private legal practice. As the third child and a male born on Friday, he was called Kofi Mensah at home and by close friends. Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. /L 52559 [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. Alternate Names: Kofi Mensa 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. xref one of the most outstanding nationalists of the Gol, 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. Publications such as Gold Coast Nation and Gold Coast Times came from this organization. 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. On the strength of the good reports the school had received, the Wesleyan Mission resumed its management under the principal-ship of the Rev. He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. A multi-faceted leader and legal pioneer, John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast in 1864. [7] It was this exclusion, in part, that fuelled both the "cultural nationalism" and "anti-colonial political activity" that led to the creation of the Gold Coast ARPS in 1897. endobj For example, in 1906, following the campaigns against the Town Councils Ordinance championed by the ARPS, Cape Coast market women unleashed a large-scale, well-organized protest against the ordinance when Governor John Rodger visited Cape Coast to open an agricultural show. He also proposed that native tribunals should be given a definite and well-defined place in the judicial structure. /CropBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] 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. 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. ARPS successfully defended the interests of native African people against colonizers for decades and began to form an early forum for sentiments of . [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. [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. He therefore published two books,Fanti Customary Laws(1897), andFanti National Constitution (1906). 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 The Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was an African anti-colonialist organization formed in 1897 in the Gold Coast, as Ghana was then known. de Graft-Johnson, Jacob Wilson Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford, and John Mensah Sarbah were co-founders. On the strength of the good reports the school had received, the Wesleyan Mission resumed its management under the principalship of the Rev. 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. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. 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. /P 0 However, the middle class intellectuals who supported the Society broke with Nkrumah because they were less committed to full-scale revolutionary effort. He also helped to establish the Fanti National Education Fund, which aimed at improving educational facilities in the country and also awarded scholarships. 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. He noted that the late lawyer did five hundred and sixty mineral cases in Accra, Secondi in the early 1990s. /Prev 51983 /O 24 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. 0000021313 00000 n For example, society never developed in the adjoining Eastern Province. He encouraged farmers to grow cocoa and gave them loans for the purpose. Site redesigned by Alex Mayfield (2017 and 2019). Thus, the main catalyst for the formation of the ARPS was the African intelligentsia's protest against the Lands Bill. He therefore helped J. P. Brown, J. W. de Graft Johnson, and others, to form theAborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) to watch over the interests of the African population. John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast on 3 June 1864. He was also the first African from the Gold Coast to be called to the Bar. New York: Reference Publications Inc., 1977. Sarbah returned the 400-guinea fee which the ARPS gave him because he felt that it was an honor to serve his country. ", Hopkins, Antony G. "Economic aspects of political movements in Nigeria and in the coast 19181939. . The African intelligentsia had the full support of the chiefs, especially from the inception of the ARPS to about 1912, when Governor Hugh Clifford effectively implemented the indirect rule, which used the chiefs as the main agents of local administration. Sarbah called the battle for education a prime social demand, a leading civil rights issue, and urged the nation to take up the fight, to make education transform the life chances of the nation . C.F. When, for 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. He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. He deduced that his business was a key driver for his journey to better the lots of his people and the Methodist church. /Length 12414 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 . Eventually, the Forest Bill led to the establishment of forest reserves. Born in the Gold Coast in 1864, John Mensah Sarbah qualified as a barrister in London and later became a leading critic of British colonial rule, especially in connection with land ownership. 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. It was at the same time as the implementation of this ordinance that the Gold Coast Gold Coast ARPS began to lose some of their power, as they could no longer use the Gold Coast indigenous chiefs as leverage from which to gain funds. 0000000017 00000 n Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He was responsible for various initiatives, including the founding of a Dutton scholarship at Taunton School in memory of his younger brother, Joseph Dutton Sarbah, who had died there in 1892. 0000015054 00000 n John Mensah Sarbah was one of the pioneers of Ghanaian politics and a distinguished African politician in the Gold Coast in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The mission of ARPS initially was to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the Indigenous Gold Coast peoples and more concretely to ensu. 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. 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. some cases thereon decided in the Law Courts by John Mensah Sarbah | Sep 21, 2020 5 Hardcover $1844 The statue of Queen Victoria at Victoria park in Cape Coast is a sign of treaty between ARPS and the British Government to abandon the Lands Bill. 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. He was a good churchman, and bought a pipe organ for the Methodist Church at Cape Coast. 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). [9] Moreover, the key players in the Gold Coast ARPS predicated their belief in a movement against the Lands Bill of 1897 on the assumption that the economic interests of the [village] chiefs were identical with those of the rural population as a whole.[9] This assumption was necessary in the cultivation of support for the opposition of the Lands Bill of 1897 because it fueled public support for a return to traditional forms of land tenure that had vested land ownership in the hands of rural peoples instead of in the hands of foreign actors. Sarbah returned the 400-guinea fee which the ARPS gave him because he that! Example, Society never developed in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast to be called to the Gold Nation. ( 1906 ) less committed to full-scale revolutionary effort Nkrumah because they were committed! 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