When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895- 97) refused to withdraw the bill, Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to Volume One: Ethiopia-Ghana, Ed. 0000001690 00000 n 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. 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. /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. Consequently, the Society declined as a major political force. 0000030321 00000 n He therefore published two books, Fanti Customary Laws (1897), and Fanti National Constitution (1906). At the inaugural anniversary lecture and thanks-giving service in Cape Coast organized by the John Mensah Sarbah Memorial Legacy Foundation on the theme: The life of legacy of John Mernsah Sarbah; education as a catalyst to economic emancipation came the business side of the late lawyer. 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". 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. A multi-faceted leader and legal pioneer, John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast in 1864. He was eventually honored with the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1910, months before he suddenly died at the age of 46. In 1887 he was called to the bar and qualified as a barrister. . Sarbah was a good legislator. What Happened To Mary Magdalene After Jesus Died? 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). This reform, too, has now been adopted. [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. /Outlines 16 0 R 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. /TrimBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] 0000033715 00000 n 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. By the mid-1930s, the ARPS was in a state of decline. /Parent 20 0 R W. T. Balmer. ", "Ghana - Early Manifestations of Nationalism", "Action and Reaction: An Overview of the Ding Dong Relationship between the Colonial Government and the People of Cape Coast", The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities, "This Is Our Land: Land, Policy, Resistance, and Everyday Life in Colonial Southern Ghana, 18947", "Producing a Received View of Gold Coast Elite Society? 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. 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. /Pages 20 0 R 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. 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 was the first African barrister from the then Gold Coast. 0000014189 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. 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]. Although the Lands Bill was its immediate preoccupation, the aims of the ARPS were broad and encompassing. John Mensah Sarbah also worked hard to promote secondary education. In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. The ARPS delegation met with Joseph Chamberlain (18361914), the colonial secretary, with whom they discussed the questions of land, taxation, and constitutional reform. In 1892 his father died, and he also took over his fathers business. Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. 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 also identified the need for good interpreters in the courts, and proposed the establishment of a school for court interpreters. % The Forest Bill can be traced to the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance of 1883. 0000021313 00000 n On his return to the Gold Coast, he became a leading critic of British Imperial rule. Sarbah was the eldest son of John Sarbah, a successful merchant, and was subsequently well-educated. He became the first native-born Ghanaian to accomplish the feat. Required fields are marked *. C.F. September 4, 1887: Arrival of John Mensah Sarbah, first Ghanaian called to the English Bar, September 7, 1817: Anglo-Ashanti Treaty signed between Osei Bonsu and African Company of Merchants, September 1, 1966: The National Liberation Council (NLC) establishes a commission to propose a new constitution. He encouraged farmers to grow cocoa and gave them loans for the purpose. He attended Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later to be renamed Mfantsipim) and completed his secondary education at the Taunton School in Somerset, England. 50 0 obj 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. The great Ghanaian nationalist John Mensah Sarbah, born on June 3 1864, died November 6 1910. ARPS successfully defended the interests of native African people against colonizers for decades and began to form an early forum for sentiments of independence. However, the Gold Coast ARPS was interested not only in the protection of the rights of the native peoples in the Gold Coast but also with the larger global struggles of the African diaspora, including the United States, Europe and the West Indies. The learned lawyer said in 1908 to 1910, the late John Mensah Sarbah financed Cocoa farmers across the country. He himself founded a scholarship at Mfantsipim School and helped to pay the salaries of the staff when the school encountered financial difficulties. 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 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. He therefore published two books,Fanti Customary Laws(1897), andFanti National Constitution (1906). endobj 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. A notable aspect of the delegation is that it included not only members of the Gold Coast elite, but also "prominent merchants". 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. These cookies do not store any personal information. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. /ID [<28bf4e5e4e758a4164004e56fffa0108><28bf4e5e4e758a4164004e56fffa0108>] 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. By Royalvibes (self media writer) | 2 years ago. 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. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. >> He was born at Cape Coast in 1864, and . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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. It also vigorously campaigned for improvements in education, sanitation, health, and the provision of infrastructure. He waborn at Cape Coast in 1864and was the eldest son of John Sarbaha merh nd o SaahHe He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. J. M. Sarbah, Fanti Customary Laws, London, 1897. 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. 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. 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. [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. The activities of the ARPS were not always an all-male affair. Bonds: Citizens warn government not to touch their individual bond investments. He also helped to establish the Fanti National Education Fund, which aimed at improving educational facilities in the country and also awarded scholarships. John Mensah Sarbah had opposed such proposals before, and people had expected him to oppose the amendment outright. S. Tenkorang, John Mensah Sarbah, 18641910, in Transactions of the HYistorical Society of Ghana, Vol. The idea of forming the society had been incubated as early as 1895, but was shelved until May 17, 1897, when a meeting 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. The ARPS remained the voice of colonized Africans until its demise in the 1930s. The delegation was successful because the Colonial Office later asked the colonial government to abandon the Lands Bill and the hut tax. The Town Councils Ordinance dealt with the levying of municipal house rates. 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. John Mensah Sarbah was interested in promoting agriculture, and wrote an article on The Oil Palm and Its Products in 1909. [5] This is highlighted in controversy that suggests that despite the beliefs of the colonial administrators of the Gold Coast ARPS' self-interest in the protest movements, "there was overwhelming evidence of a long history of cooperation between the intellectuals and the indigenous political authorities, at least in Cape Coast. 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. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. 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 . 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. >> He said the late lawyer readily made cash allowances to Cocoa farmers to push the economic development of the Gold Coast. There he fought the Native Jurisdiction Bill, which gave Fante chiefs exclusive powers to administer local laws. John Mensah Sarbah was born in Cape Coast on 3 June 1864. [3], J.W. [4][5], Mensah Sarbah was appointed a member of the Legislative Council in 1901,[6] and was re-appointed in 1906. 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. (His suggestion was to be adopted in 1951.) 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. XIV, No. They sent Sarbah to argue against its passage in the Legislative Council. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. "The neglected aspects of the activities of the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society. W. T. Balmer. /Prev 51983 WhatsApp : +233204700052 To Sarbah this went against the democratic traditions of the Fante. John Mensah Sarbah was interested in court reforms, and tried to obtain better protection for accused persons during trials, especially in cases in whichcolonial districtcommissioners were biased against certain Africans. Join our whatsapp page, This website uses cookies. His Fanti Customary Laws is still regarded as an indispensable book for lawyers in Ghana. 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). As a lawyer, Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fante laws and of the Fante Constitution. 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. Site redesigned by Alex Mayfield (2017 and 2019). When Governor Sir William Maxwell (term of office 1895-97) refused to withdraw the bill, John Mensah Sarbah advised the ARPS to send a delegation to England to petition against its passage. III, 1903. Last updated: 14 December 2022. (The distinction, as he had suggested, was to be abolished in 1960.). 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. 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. The ARPS used the money to establish a press, which publishedThe Gold Coast Nation(founded 1912) andThe Gold Coast Times(founded 1923). He made a lasting mark on national life in politics, education, and law. Although the ARPS was an alliance between the African intelligentsia and the chiefs or the indigenous rulers, its leadership was mostly made up of educated Africans who were able to use their literacy to negotiate with the colonial government.