>> His suggestion, which was an improvement on the amendment, was not accepted. [1][2] Its delegates were active in international organizations and at the 1945 Pan-African Congress, it gained support from Kwame Nkrumah, who later became the main leader of the independence movement. In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. This article was reprinted from The Encyclopedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography (In 20 Volumes). Methodist He was interested in promoting agriculture, and wrote an article on The Oil Palm and Its Products in 1909. 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. The delegation, which Sarbah refused out of modesty to lead, went to London in 1898, and succeeded in getting the Lands Bill disallowed. When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895- 97) refused to withdraw the bill, Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to Some other sources (including Magnus Sampson, 1969) give 6 November 1910 as the date of Mensah Sarbahs death. Azu Crabbe, John Mensah Sarbah: His Life and Works, Accra, 1971. 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. 0000001010 00000 n 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. By the mid-1930s, the ARPS was in a state of decline. He revealed that when he died in 1910 there was evidence in his will that he had shares in Ashanti Obuasi mines out of which he left shares for his mother and sisters and part for his wife and children. 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. He waborn at Cape Coast in 1864and was the eldest son of John Sarbaha merh nd o SaahHe 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. 22 0 obj % [8], Entrenched in the founding of the Gold Coast ARPS was a belief that both the political actions of the Gold Coast ARPS and the movement against foreign encroachments on native lands were "joint vehicles of nationalism". The ARPS was led by elected officers; during its first years, its president was Jacob Wilson Sey, while the vice president was J. P. Brown. He attended Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later to be renamed Mfantsipim) and completed his secondary education at the Taunton School in Somerset, England. [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. Joseph William Egyanka Appiah (later Jemisimiham Jehu-Appiah) later became a member through Attoh Ahuma, and was part of the delegation that went to UK to protest to the Queen to release all Ghana lands into the hands of natives. ! Y << He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. . J. M. Sarbah, Fanti Customary Laws, London, 1897. Indeed, in the 1920s it had been taken over by the equally elitist but broader-based and more radical NCBWA, which sought to bring about a fundamental change in colonial rule. 23 0 obj Overall, however, the protest politics of the ARPS went beyond mere reformism. He was born at Cape Coast in 1864, and was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a merchant, and of his wife Sarah. 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. Sarbah returned the guinea fee which the ARPS gave him for his work, as he regarded it as an honour to serve his country. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. John Mensah 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. 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. 0000019978 00000 n The society also sought to modify or prevent the passing of several bills, including the Town Councils Ordinance of 1894 that came into force in 1904, and the Forest Bill (19071911). 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). This is clear evidence to the effect that aside his legal profession, he had massive interest in education, politics, business and Agriculture. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the . 50 0 obj He also helped to establish the Fanti National Education Fund, which aimed at improving educational facilities in the country and also awarded scholarships. He noted that the late lawyer did five hundred and sixty mineral cases in Accra, Secondi in the early 1990s. /Root 23 0 R His father sent him to England when he was sixteen to continue his education. >> 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. Last updated: 14 December 2022. [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. << >> 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. 0000000908 00000 n In 1892 his father died, arid he also took over his fattiers business. /Type /Page 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. 25 0 obj He also proposed that native tribunals should be given a definite and well-defined place in the judicial structure. In 1898 ARPS sent a delegation to London and successfully got the Lands Bill overturned. [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. The delegation was successful because the Colonial Office later asked the colonial government to abandon the Lands Bill and the hut tax. 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. 0 Ghana. [4][5], Mensah Sarbah was appointed a member of the Legislative Council in 1901,[6] and was re-appointed in 1906. 0000029491 00000 n These newspapers, read by the African intelligentsia and Europeans, including government officials, in the Gold Coast, were used as political platforms to call attention to African demands. He was born on 3rd June 1864, in Anomabu in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. Furthermore, some of its members joined in the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) which eventually lead to the independence of Ghana. Publications such as Gold Coast Nation and Gold Coast Times came from this organization. John Mensah Sarbah also worked hard to promote secondary education. He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 1, Legon, June 1973 (pp. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. 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 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. 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. [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. Sarbah was a good legislator. John Mensah Sarbah was interested in promoting agriculture, and wrote an article on The Oil Palm and Its Products in 1909. 22 29 /O 24 According to him, what was clear is that he operated his chambers from the late fathers office at the Commercial Street in Cape Coast. 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 Gold Coast When Edward IV Was King, Journal of the African Society, Vol. Volume One: Ethiopia-Ghana, Ed. ARPS successfully defended the interests of native African people against colonizers for decades and began to form an early forum for sentiments of independence. What Happened To Mary Magdalene After Jesus Died? /Font << /F13 26 0 R /F19 32 0 R /F25 38 0 R /F31 44 0 R >> 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. 1864-1910 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. /MediaBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] He founded a Dutton scholarship at Taunton College, in memory of his brother, Joseph Dutton Sarbah, who had died there in He also, together with other . 0000014334 00000 n 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 . This was vigorously implemented in 1907 with the passing of the Timber Protection Ordinance which sought to prevent the cutting of saplings. 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. In understanding the critiques of the Gold Coast ARPS nationalists aims, it is important to note that much of the skepticism about the true intentions of the members of the Gold Coast ARPS came from British colonial administrators who were dismissive of the attempts of the Gold Coast ARPS to oppose the Lands Bill of 1897. He was a good churchman, and bought a pipe organ for the Methodist Church at Cape Coast. 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]." There he fought the Native Jurisdiction Bill, which gave Fante chiefs exclusive powers to administer local laws. 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. endobj [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. /T 51995 It has emerged that he was a business man par excellence who groomed his late father's business in agriculture and mining merchandise in the Gold Coast era. stream (His suggestion was to be adopted in 1951.) Magnus Sampson, Gold Coast Men of Affairs, London, 1937. He deduced that his business was a key driver for his journey to better the lots of his people and the Methodist church. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. On his return to the Gold Coast, he became a leading critic of British Imperial rule. >> 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. /Info 21 0 R 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. 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. He founded two newspapers, The Gold Coast People and Gold Coast Weekly, and became an authority on the traditions of the Fante people. 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. Despite this inability to create their own pan-African conference, the Gold Coast ARPS in 1912 participated in a pan-African conference at what is now Tuskegee University. In 1887 he was called to the bar and qualified as a barrister. 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. [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. 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. John Mensah Sarbah had opposed such proposals before, and people had expected him to oppose the amendment outright. At the age of 23, he returned to the Gold Coast to set up a legal practice. "[5], An analysis of the impact of the Gold Coast ARPS must typically be constrained to the society's impact on local politics in the Gold Coast region. 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. On his return home, Sarbah, who was generally known as Kofi Mensah, built up a lucrative practice. 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