J. E. Casely Hayford
Encyclopedia
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, author, lawyer, educator, and politician who supported pan-African nationalism
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community". Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity...
. He was born on 29 September 1866 in Cape Coast
Cape Coast
Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is the capital of the Central Region of Ghana and is also the capital city of the Fante people, or Mfantsefo. It is situated 165 km west of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of 82,291 . From the 16th century the city has changed hands between the...
, in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
colony, now Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
.
His family, part of the Anona clan, was fairly wealthy; his father was the Reverend Joseph de Graft Hayford.
Early life
He attended the Wesleyan Boys High School in Cape Coast, and Fourah Bay CollegeFourah Bay College
Fourah Bay College is the oldest university college in West Africa. It is located atop Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone...
in Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. While in Freetown, Casely Hayford became an admirer and follower of Edward Wilmot Blyden
Edward Wilmot Blyden
Edward Wilmot Blyden was an Americo-Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician primarily in Liberia. He also taught for five years in Sierra Leone, and his writings were influential in both countries....
, the foremost pan-African figure at the time, who edited Negro, the first explicitly pan-African journal in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. Upon his return to Ghana, he became a high school teacher, and eventually principal at Accra Wesleyan High School. He was dismissed from his position at the school for his political activism, which prompted him to go work as a newspaper editor, first for his uncle James Hutton Brew at the Gold Coast Echo, then the Gold Coast Chronicle, and the Wesleyan Methodist Times.
Casely Hayford's first wife was Beatrice Madeline. Their son, Archie Casely-Hayford, was a lawyer, district magistrate and the first Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the First Republic of Ghana.
In 1893, Casely Hayford traveled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and trained to be a barrister at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
, and at Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
. It was whilst lodging at a hostel for African bachelors that he met his second wife Adelaide Casely-Hayford
Adelaide Casely-Hayford
Adelaide Casely-Hayford, née Smith , was a Sierra Leonean Creole advocate, an activist for cultural nationalism, educator, short story writer, and feminist. She established a school for girls in 1923 to instill cultural and racial pride during the colonial years under British rule...
(née Smith) who was inspired by him and became a prominent writer. He was called to the Bar on 17 November 1896 and returned to Ghana in that year to private law practices in Cape Coast, Axim
Axim
Axim is a town, district and kingdom on the coast of Ghana. It lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Takoradi, south of the highway leading to the Côte d'Ivoire border, in the Western Region to the west of Cape Three Points....
, Sekondi and Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, as well as continuing his work as a journalist, editing the Gold Coast Leader. In 1904, he helped found the Mfantsipim School
Mfantsipim School
Mfantsipim SchoolMotto:Dwen Hwe Kan .Established: 3rd April 1876.Public School . Affiliated with Wesleyanism/Methodist Church.Head of school: Kwame Mieza Edjah.Staff:85....
, and in 1910 succeeded John Mensah Sarbah as president of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society
Aborigines' Rights Protection Society
The Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society was an association critical of colonial rule, formed in 1897 in the Gold Coast, as Ghana was known....
.
Political activism
Casely Hayford went on to write several books, primarily as commentary and opposition to British land management acts, such as the Crown Lands Bill of 1897, and the Forest Ordinance of 1911. His view was that African identity and African social stability were inextricably linked to conservation of existing conventions concerning land rights.While visiting London to protest the Forest Ordinance of 1911 he was part of a group that gave financial assistance to Dusé Mohamed Ali
Dusé Mohamed Ali
Dusé Mohamed Ali , , was an African nationalist. He was also an actor, historian, journalist, editor, lecturer, traveller, publisher, a founder of the Comet Press Ltd. and The Comet newspaper .-Early life:He was born in Alexandria, Egypt...
to get his African Times and Orient Review off the ground. Others were Francis T. Dove and C.W. Betts from Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
and Dr. Oguntola Sapara
Oguntola Sapara
Oguntola Odunbaku Sapara was a doctor, originally from Sierra Leone, who spent most of his career in Nigeria. He was best known for his campaign against secret societies that were spreading smallpox.-Birth and education:...
from Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
.
Casely Hayford was also heavily involved in the political movement for African emancipation. He participated in Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
's International Conference on the Negro in 1912, and his correspondence with Washington fostered the pan-African movement in both Africa and the United States.
Casely Hayford’s career in public office began with his nomination to the Legislative Council in 1916. As a legislator he served on various public commissions, and received an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1919. In the same year he formed West Africa’s first nationalist movement, the National Congress of British West Africa
National Congress of British West Africa
The National Congress of British West Africa , founded in 1920, was the earliest nationalist organization in West Africa, and one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation...
, one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation. He represented the Congress in London in 1920, to demand constitutional reforms from the colonial secretary, and address the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
Union, but was criticized for accepting inadequate concessions from the British. He became the first patron of the West African Students' Union
West African Students' Union
The West African Students' Union was an association of students from various West African countries who were studying in the United Kingdom.-Origins:...
in 1925, and was elected as municipal member for Sekondi in September 1927. The National Congress was dissolved shortly after Casely Hayford's death in 1930.
Casely Hayford's novel Ethiopia Unbound is one of the first novels in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by an Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n. It has been cited as the earliest pan-African fiction. The novel is set in both Africa and England. It relies on philosophical debates between an African and his English friend, as well as references to contemporary African events and ancient African history, to provide a context for its exploration of African identity and the struggle for emancipation
Political emancipation
Emancipation is a broad term used to describe various efforts to obtain political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters...
.