Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-level institution in Africa. It is a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone (USL) and was formerly affiliated with Durham University (1876–1967).[1]
 | |
| Latin: Collegium Fourah Bay | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | February 18, 1827 |
| Students | 3,465 total |
| Location | PO Box 87 Mount Aureol, Freetown , 8°28′37.9″N 13°13′16.3″W / 8.477194°N 13.221194°WCoordinates: 8°28′37.9″N 13°13′16.3″W / 8.477194°N 13.221194°W |
| Campus | Freetown campus (urban) |
| Language | English |
| Affiliations | University of Sierra Leone |
| Website | fourahbaycollege |
HistoryEdit
FoundationEdit
The college was established in February 1827 as an Anglican missionary school by the Church Missionary Society with support from Charles MacCarthy, the governor of Sierra Leone. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first student to be enrolled at Fourah Bay.[2] Fourah Bay College soon became a magnet for Sierra Leone Creoles and other Africans seeking higher education in British West Africa. These included Nigerians, Ghanaians, Ivorians and many more, especially in the fields of theology and education. It was the first western-style university in West Africa. Under colonialism, Freetown was known as the "Athens of Africa" due to the large number of excellent schools in Freetown and surrounding areas.
The first black principal of the university was an African-American missionary, Reverend Edward Jones from South Carolina, United States. Lamina Sankoh was a prominent early academic; Francis Heiser was principal from 1920 to 1922. Davidson Nicol was the first Sierra Leonean principal in 1966. In 1985 unrest broke out in Fourah Bay College following a purge of those suspected of militancy inspired by Gaddafi's Green Book, and retaliatory violence and arrests ensued.[3]
Old Fourah Bay College BuildingEdit
Governor William Fergusson laid the foundation stone of the original Fourah Bay College building when construction started in 1845, with construction supervised by Edward Jones, who became the institution's first principal. The original Fourah Bay College building remained in regular use until World War II when the college was temporarily moved outside Freetown. After the war it became the headquarters of Sierra Leone Government Railway and later as a Magistrate court. The building was proclaimed a National Monument in 1955. The building ceased to be in use in early 1990, and caught fire in 1999.[4]
AdministrationEdit
FacultiesEdit
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Applied Accounting
InstitutesEdit
Institute of Adult Education and Extra-Mural StudiesEdit
Institute of African StudiesEdit
Work began on the building of the Institute of African Studies in 1966 with half the £40,000 being provided by the UK Technical Assistance Programme. The first Director was Michael Crowder with J. G. Edowu-Hyde as secretary. The journal Sierra Leone Studies was also relaunched at this time.[5]
Institute of Marine Biology and OceanographyEdit
Institute of Population StudiesEdit
Institute of Library, Information and Communication StudiesEdit
StudentsEdit
As of 1998/1999, the student enrollment was around 2,000 in four faculties and five institutes. It had consistently expanded in the 10 previous years.
Notable alumniEdit
See also Category:Fourah Bay College alumni
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther, one-time Anglican bishop of West Africa
- Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, economist and current mayor of Freetown
- Michael Adekunle Ajasin
- Kelvin Anderson
- Alexander Babatunde Akinyele
- Zainab Bangura
- Edward Wilmot Blyden III (1918–2010), political scientist and former dean at Fourah Bay College
- Kojo Botsio
- David Omashola Carew, economist and former cabinet minister
- Henry Rawlingson Carr, educator and administrator
- Christian Frederick Cole, first black graduate of Oxford and first African barrister to practice in the English courts[6]
- Robert Wellesley Cole, general surgeon and first West African to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons[7]
- J. B. Dauda, Foreign Minister
- Thomas Decker, writer, poet, journalist, and linguist[8]
- Kenneth Dike, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan
- M. G. Ejaife
- Edward Fasholé-Luke (born 1934) academic and Anglican theologian
- David J. Francis
- Ibrahim Fofanah, Avionics engineer
- Clifford Nelson Fyle, academic and author, known for writing the lyrics to the Sierra Leone National Anthem[9]
- Sam Franklyn Gibson, former mayor of Freetown.
- Ella Koblo Gulama
- J. E. Casely Hayford
- Lati Hyde-Forster, first African principal of Annie Walsh Memorial School and first female graduate of Fourah Bay College[10]
- Africanus Horton, surgeon, scientist and political thinker who worked towards African independence a century before it occurred
- Thomas Horatio Jackson
- James Ayodele Jenkins-Johnston, barrister and human rights defender[11]
- Obadiah Johnson
- Thomas Sylvester Johnson (1873–1955), educator, theologian and former bishop of Sierra Leone[12]
- Eldred Durosimi Jones (1925–2020), linguist, literary critic, university professor and principal of Fourah Bay College[13]
- Abu Bakarr Kanu, Professor of Chemistry at the Winston-Salem State University
- John Karefa-Smart
- Fatou Sanyang Kinteh
- Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone
- Sia Koroma, First Lady
- Tamba Lamina, Sierra Leonean Cabinet Minister
- Sir Milton Margai
- Sam Mbakwe
- Arthur Daniel Porter III (1924–2019), author, professor of history and university administrator[14]
- Benjamin Quartey-Papafio
- Frederick Poku Sarkodee, one of the three Ghanaian High Court judges that were martyred on June 30, 1982.
- Kadi Sesay
- Moses Nathanael Scott (1911–1988), clergyman and Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone who later became Archbishop of the Province of West Africa
- Shekou Touray, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations
- Abel Bankole Stronge, lawyer and one-time Speaker of the Parliament of Sierra Leone
- John Bankole Thompson (1936–2021), jurist, judge and academic[15]
- Akintola Gustavus Wyse (died 2002), author and professor of history at Fourah Bay College[16]
ReferencesEdit
- ^ "About Us". Fourah Bay College. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ Kopytoff, Jean Herskovits. A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The "Sierra Leonians" in Yoruba, 1830–1890. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 35.
- ^ https://vdoc.pub/documents/sierra-leone-a-political-history-vcq9k0dnb5o0
- ^ "Old Fourah Bay College Building". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Crowder, Michael (1966). "Institute of African Studies, Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone". The Journal of Modern Sierra Leone Studies. 4 (1): 95–6. JSTOR 159418.
- ^ Brockliss, L. W. B. (2016). The University of Oxford: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 410. ISBN 9780199243563.
- ^ "Irene Ighodaro". Young Historians Project. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ^ Neville Shrimpton, Thomas Decker and The Death of Boss Coker (1987)
- ^ Fyle, Magbaily (2006). Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. p. 57.
- ^ africanvoice (2017-10-26). "The Krios of Sierra Leone – Pioneers throughout Africa - African Voice Newspaper". African Voice Newspaper. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
- ^ Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, The London Gazette, June 06, 1969; retrieved September 26, 2016
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (1998), by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- ^ Africa Who's Who, London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 537.
- ^ "A review of Porter's Creoledom". www.natinpasadvantage.com.
- ^ "Interview with Rosolu John Bankole Thompson, March 21, 2014". Kentucky Oral History. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "Akintola Wyse: A Brief Biography". www.hyperleap.com.
External linksEdit
Media related to Fourah Bay College at Wikimedia Commons- Official Fourah Bay College website
- Fourah Bay College history
- Urhobo Historical Society.
