the role of john mensah sarbah in the arps

stream Sarbah House, at Mfantsipim, is named for him. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Last updated: 14 December 2022. 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. [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. 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. /MediaBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] [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. The Forest Bill can be traced to the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance of 1883. 0000029808 00000 n Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. He was born at Cape Coast in 1864, and . There he fought the Native Jurisdiction Bill, which gave Fante chiefs exclusive powers to administer local laws. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. As a legislator he was interested in law reform, and tried his best to prevent the passage of laws inimical to the interests of his countrymen. Thus, the main catalyst for the formation of the ARPS was the African intelligentsia's protest against the Lands Bill. 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 . 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. /CropBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] Fanti National Constitution, London, 1906. He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. 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 You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. Sarbah's intellectual leadership was recognized amongst his countrymen, Africans across the continent, and even the Crown. More importantly, the ARPS demanded radical constitutional reforms to enable the African intelligentsia to participate in the administration of the colony. Sarbah returned the 400-guinea fee which the ARPS gave him because he felt that it was an honor to serve his country. 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. 24 0 obj He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. 0 M i 8 0 R E R _ = R R D Q endstream [citation needed]. These cookies do not store any personal information. 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. The delegation, which Sarbah refused out of modesty to lead, went to London in 1898, and succeeded in getting the Lands Bill disallowed. 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. 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). 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. A notable aspect of the delegation is that it included not only members of the Gold Coast elite, but also "prominent merchants". 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. He was also the first African from the Gold Coast to be called to the Bar. When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895- 97) refused to withdraw the bill, Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to It has emerged that he was a business man par excellence who groomed his late fathers business in agriculture and mining merchandise in the Gold Coast era. 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. At the age of 23, he returned to the Gold Coast to set up a legal practice. He was the first African barrister from the then Gold Coast. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The idea of forming the society had been incubated as early as 1895 but was shelved 1 year ago ago The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. ", This page was last edited on 17 March 2022, at 16:53. 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. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. He was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School, and at Taunton School Devon, England. The Wesley Brothers of Oxford University (1700s), Razia Sultan of Medieval India (786 Years Ago), The Assassination of Legendary Dancehall Dance Pioneer Gerald Bogle Levy. This was vigorously implemented in 1907 with the passing of the Timber Protection Ordinance which sought to prevent the cutting of saplings. >> Some other sources (including Magnus Sampson, 1969) give 6 November 1910 as the date of Mensah Sarbahs death. << 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. Sarbah was a good legislator. Sign up here to receive the quarterly Journal of African Christian Biography and DACB News (FREE). John Mensah Sarbah CMG (3 June 1864 - 27 November 1910) was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). "[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. 0000034269 00000 n 0 /Filter [/FlateDecode ] /Contents 25 0 R J. M. Sarbah, Fanti Customary Laws, London, 1897. 2021 Happy FM Ghana - Developed byHappy Ghana. << His father sent him to England when he was sixteen to continue his education. The Town Councils Ordinance dealt with the levying of municipal house rates. startxref We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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. 23 0 obj In 1892 his father died, arid he also took over his fattiers business. To Sarbah this went against the democratic traditions of the Fante. /Root 23 0 R 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. 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. 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. Magnus Sampson, Gold Coast Men of Affairs, London, 1937. 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. He was born on 3rd June 1864, in Anomabu in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. Its overall influence was felt throughout the Gold Coast, especially in districts where there was a sizeable number of African intellectuals, such as Krobo and Akuapem in the Eastern Province. 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. Early Life [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. 0000034629 00000 n He had married Marian Wood of Accra in 1904, and they had three children. /P 0 He noted that the late lawyer did five hundred and sixty mineral cases in Accra, Secondi in the early 1990s. Site redesigned by Alex Mayfield (2017 and 2019). Upon returning from a visit to Europe in 1903 together with William Edward Sam, he and Sam promoted an enterprise called the Fanti Public Schools Limited. 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). In 1906 another delegation led by Reverend K. Egyir-Assam was sent to England under the auspices of the ARPS to demand the repeal of the Town Councils Ordinance, though this time the Colonial Office did not grant the wishes of the ARPS. 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. 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. 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. [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. 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. << 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. 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. 0000029344 00000 n W. T. Balmer. The connection of the Gold Coast ARPS with the global movements for freedom and rights for people of colour began with interactions between the leaders of Gold Coast ARPS and other anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist leaders abroad and ended with Gold Coast ARPS involvement with the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress. "that every person may understand [the Lands Bill of 1897]. 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. 0000034351 00000 n . endobj [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. 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. Contemporaries such as Reverend Attoh Ahuma lamented that Sarbah's work was not appropriately appreciated in his time as he "did not strive for popularity nor was he vainglorious nor egotistical." He became known for defending the rights of Africans against British colonial authorities. The ARPS opposed the Lands Bill of 1897, which threatened the traditional system of African land tenure, and sent John Mensah Sarbah to argue against its passage in the Legislative Council. [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. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. 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 [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. 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. 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. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of page! Page across from the Gold Coast /p 0 he noted that the late did! 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Father sent him to England when he was sixteen to continue his.. Participate in the early 1990s on Friday, 3 June 1864, in the Fante Confederacy in the Fante in! African intelligentsia 's protest against the Lands Bill on this Wikipedia the language links are the!
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