It cannot be said that the late lawyer did not engaged in any business because he was at a point prosecuted for invasion of Customs duties which had to be quashed by the then Chief Justice. In 1892 his father died, and he also took over his fathers business. He therefore published two books, Fanti Customary Laws (1897), and Fanti 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, Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society. Required fields are marked *. Sarbah had opposed such proposals before, and people had expected him to oppose the amendment outright. endobj [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. Although the Lands Bill was its immediate preoccupation, the aims of the ARPS were broad and encompassing. My latest banger got nothing to do with Mahama - Volkano_KM. 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. He was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School, and at Taunton School Devon, England. 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 Christian marriage and the spouse in a customary marriage (The distinction, as he-had suggested, was to be abolished in 1960). 0000015054 00000 n << 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. John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. 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 x}$9Z|_ /.!3n93. /T 51995 The delegation, which Sarbah refused out of modesty to lead, went to London in 1898, and succeeded in getting the Lands Bill disallowed. 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. Sarbah failed to sway the opinon of Governor Sir William Maxwell, however, his action sparked fervor among his colleagues. 0000034269 00000 n THE LIFE OF JOHN MENSAH SARBAH. /Info 21 0 R The African Feed 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. >> 65, 76. The idea of forming the society had been incubated as early as 1895 but was shelved 1 year ago ago He deduced that his business was a key driver for his journey to better the lots of his people and the Methodist church. [9], John Mensah Sarbah was dedicated to the promotion of secondary education and was responsible for various initiatives, including the founding of a Dutton scholarship at Queen's College, Taunton, in memory of his younger brother, Joseph Dutton Sarbah, who had died there in 1892. [10] This interest in pan-Africanism manifested itself in attempts by the Gold Coast ARPS to hold a similar conference on the Gold Coast, although the idea never came to fruition. Sarbah-Picot House at Mfantsipim School is named after him. 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. 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. Hutchison's Pen Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities1", "The Aborigines Society, Kwame Nkrumah and the 1945 Pan-African Congress", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gold_Coast_Aborigines%27_Rights_Protection_Society&oldid=1077681957, 1890s establishments in Gold Coast (British colony), Articles with unsourced statements from June 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Asante, S. K. B. 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. 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). 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. He was Born into a wealthy family, and studied law in England. He was the first African barrister from the then Gold Coast. In 1887 he was called to the bar and qualified as a barrister. As a lawyer, John Mensah Sarbah was interested in spreading knowledge of Fanti laws and of theFanti Constitution. The ARPS opposed the Lands Bill of 1897, which threatened the traditional system of African land tenure. 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. He encouraged farmers to grow cocoa and gave them loans for the purpose. 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 0000019838 00000 n 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. Sarbah returned the guinea fee which the ARPS gave him for his work, as he regarded it as an honour to serve his country. 0000021313 00000 n By his publications he began the tradition of educated nationalist politicians finding time to write about their countrys history and institutions. New York: Reference Publications Inc., 1977. B. Danquah. In 1897 he worked with JE Casely Hayford, JP Brown, JW de Graft Johnson, and others to form the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS). He had married Marian Wood of Accra in 1904, and they had three children. However, the middle class intellectuals who supported the Society broke with Nkrumah because they were less committed to full-scale revolutionary effort. 0000029491 00000 n 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. 0000029808 00000 n 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. Apart from various petitions issued by the ARPS, the society also sent delegations to meet with the colonial government. 1864-1910 [2][7][8], In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children. /Length 296 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. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. /Prev 51983 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. >> 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 also worked hard to promote secondary education. 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 . 50 0 obj Many were those who knew the late John Mensah Sarbah as an illustrious lawyer, politician and educationist in the days of the defunct Gold Coast and modern day Ghana. /CropBox [0.0000 0.0000 595.2756 841.8898] Overall, however, the protest politics of the ARPS went beyond mere reformism. [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. [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. 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