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. He explained that he engaged in massive agriculture financing in the Gold Coast. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. 0000014972 00000 n [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. The mission of ARPS initially was to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the Indigenous Gold Coast peoples and more concretely to ensure "that every person may understand [the Lands Bill of 1897]." 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. He was interested in court reforms, and tried to obtain better protection for accused persons during trials, especially in cases in which colonial district commissioners were biased against certain Africans. At the age of 23, he returned to the Gold Coast to set up a legal practice. [5] Particularly, John Mensah Sarbah, a key member of the Gold Coast ARPS and a lawyer, helped to advocate against the introduction of the Lands Bill of 1897 by arguing that it was no different from a previous, unsuccessful bill in 1894; that its introduction would break family and society ties, and that the land was valuable to indigenous peoples for its religious significance. 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. However, the middle class intellectuals who supported the Society broke with Nkrumah because they were less committed to full-scale revolutionary effort. Another consequence of the Gold Coast ARPS' interaction with other global movements was the attainment of knowledge about how successful African domination of colonial rule could take place. His father sent him to England when he was sixteen to continue his education. Volume One: Ethiopia-Ghana, Ed. [2] We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. There he fought the Native Jurisdiction Bill, which gave Fante chiefs exclusive powers to administer local laws. 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 Jacob Kwaw Wilson Sey (10 March 1832 - 22 May 1902), also known as Kwaa Bonyi, was a colonial era Fante artisan, farmer, philanthropist, nationalist and the first recorded indigenous multi-millionaire on the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana). S. Tenkorang, John Mensah Sarbah, 18641910, in Transactions of the HYistorical Society of Ghana, Vol. 0000020963 00000 n W. T. Balmer. Consequently, the Society declined as a major political force. 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. 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. 0000001010 00000 n These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. Site redesigned by Alex Mayfield (2017 and 2019). Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. What Happened To Mary Magdalene After Jesus Died? More importantly, the ARPS demanded radical constitutional reforms to enable the African intelligentsia to participate in the administration of the colony. Sarbah returned the guinea fee which the ARPS gave him for his work, as he regarded it as an honour to serve his country. 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 was born at Cape Coast in 1864, and was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a merchant, and of his wife Sarah. 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. /Parent 20 0 R 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. /ProcSet [/PDF /Text] You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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". Over 50 years after his death, the University of Ghana, in 1963, named Mensah Sarbah Hall after him for his services to education. 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. Publications such as Gold Coast Nation and Gold Coast Times came from this organization. 0000034111 00000 n 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. . 0000014334 00000 n As a lawyer, Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fante laws and of the Fante Constitution. Alternate Names: Kofi Mensa 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. 0 The delegation was successful because the Colonial Office later asked the colonial government to abandon the Lands Bill and the hut tax. The Forest Bill can be traced to the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance of 1883. 0000014189 00000 n Sign up here to receive the quarterly Journal of African Christian Biography and DACB News (FREE). 25 0 obj Atspo Reports, Statistics, And Goal Scorers From Betpawa Premier League Match Week 12. 0000029491 00000 n 0000029344 00000 n 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 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 . The activities of the ARPS were not always an all-male affair. John Mensah Sarbah (Author of 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 . 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). 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. He was the first African barrister from the then Gold Coast. By his publications he began the tradition of educated nationalist politicians finding time to write about their countrys history and institutions. The society also remained elitist, and its decisions were made by a few individuals at the helm of the organization. Sarbah is said to have given the school its motto (Dwin Hwe Kan, meaning Think and Look Ahead) as well as its emblem. John Mensah Sarbah was interested in promoting agriculture, and wrote an article on The Oil Palm and Its Products in 1909. 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. John Mensah Sarbah was a patriot, statesman and one of the most outstanding nationalists of the Gold Coast at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. 0000019838 00000 n He was nominated as a member of the Legislative Council by the governor, Sir Mathew Nathan (term of office, 1900-04), in 1901, and sat, except for a short break, as a member until his death. In 1887 he was called to the bar and qualified as a barrister. [2][7][8], In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. The Town Councils Ordinance dealt with the levying of municipal house rates. 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 ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com When the Gold Coast Native Jurisdiction Ordinance (1883) was being amended in 1910, Section 29 caused a stir among the people because they felt it would empower the governor to usurp the rights of the people in the destooling of chiefs. [11] Specifically, many of the members of the Gold Coast ARPS had been educated abroad and were part of an African upper class class that would take over the administration of the Gold Coast should the region be granted independence from colonial rule and thus hold similar power to that of the colonialists over their indigenous brethren. /Root 23 0 R 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 encouraged farmers to grow cocoa and gave them loans for the purpose. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. /S 144 Magnus Sampson, Gold Coast Men of Affairs, London, 1937. 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. He was a good churchman, and bought a pipe organ for the Methodist Church at Cape Coast. 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. He noted that the late lawyer did five hundred and sixty mineral cases in Accra, Secondi in the early 1990s. 0000020815 00000 n ", Hopkins, Antony G. "Economic aspects of political movements in Nigeria and in the coast 19181939. /Info 21 0 R [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. He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. 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 He became the first native-born Ghanaian to accomplish the feat. /O 24 He was born on 3rd June 1864, in Anomabu in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. Some also critique members of the Gold Coast ARPS because many did not return to their ancestral African roots, despite their constant praise of a need to return to traditional African roots as a way to fully realize the cultural nationalist policies that they supported.[11]. The idea of forming the society had been incubated as early as 1895 but was shelved until May 17, 1897, when a meeting was 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. 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. Sarbah House, at Mfantsipim, is named after him. Please accept by clicking on the 'Accept' button on your screen. Indeed, by the first two decades of the twentieth century, the influence of the ARPS was being felt colony-wide as it extended its concerns to cover problems of colonial rule, including forced labor and taxation in Asante and the Northern Territories. By Royalvibes (self media writer) | 2 years ago. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. John Mensah Sarbah CMG (3 June 1864 - 27 November 1910) was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Required fields are marked *. For example, society never developed in the adjoining Eastern Province. 0000033565 00000 n /Type /Catalog 0000029808 00000 n [10] The Gold Coast ARPS was particularly interested in the Pan-African Conference that took place in July 1900 in London, the first conference of its kind to occur. W. T. Balmer. 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. Eventually, the Forest Bill led to the establishment of forest reserves. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the . [3], J.W. 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. He attended Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later to be renamed Mfantsipim) and completed his secondary education at the Taunton School in Somerset, England. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. A multi-faceted leader and legal pioneer, John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast in 1864. 0000021313 00000 n 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. 0 M i 8 0 R E R _ = R R D Q endstream When the Gold Coast Native Jurisdiction Ordinance (1883) was being amended in 1910, Section 29 caused a stir among the people because they felt it would empower the governor to usurp the rights of the people in the destooling of chiefs. According to him, the late Sarbah was a visionary business man with a wide array of businesses ranging from palm Oil, Cocoa investment and mining in the Gold Coast. As a lawyer, John Mensah Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fanti laws and of theFanti Constitution. 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. >> This led in 1904 to the foundation ofMfantsipim School, which in 1906 merged with the Collegiate School, retaining the name of Mfantsipim School. [5] The Gold Coast ARPS eventually fell out of fashion in exchange for newer nationalist movements, such as the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA) in 1920. /Linearized 1 He waborn at Cape Coast in 1864and was the eldest son of John Sarbaha merh nd o SaahHe Several developments in the preceding decades, including the lack of African representation on the Gold Coast Legislative Council, the problem of direct taxation, and the implementation of the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance of 1883, contributed to the formation of the ARPS. G. E. Metcalfe, Great Britain and Ghana: Documents on Ghana History 1807-1957, Accra, 1964. He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. Above all, it served as a precursor to revolutionary nationalism not only in the Gold Coast but in the entire West African region in the 1930s. Methodist He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. 6578), pp. This led in 1904 to the foundation of Mfantsipim School, which in 1906 merged with the Collegiate School, retaining the name of Mfantsipim School. Fante chiefs exclusive powers to administer local laws 0000014334 00000 n as a.! Demanded radical constitutional reforms to enable the African intelligentsia to participate in the Fante Confederacy in the.! Major political force of Ghana, Vol publications he began the tradition of educated nationalist finding..., education, and studied law in England `` Economic aspects of political movements in and! 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