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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Fourah Bay College
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).

History

Foundation

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. 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.

Old Fourah Bay College Building

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.

Administration

Faculties

  • Faculty of Arts
  • Faculty of Engineering
  • Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Applied Accounting

Institutes

Institute of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies

Institute of African Studies

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.

Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography

Institute of Population Studies

Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies

Students

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 alumni

See also Category:Fourah Bay College alumni

References

  1. ^ "About Us". Fourah Bay College. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  2. ^ Kopytoff, Jean Herskovits. A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The "Sierra Leonians" in Yoruba, 1830–1890. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 35.
  3. ^ "Sierra Leone : A Political History [PDF] [vcq9k0dnb5o0]".
  4. ^ "Old Fourah Bay College Building". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ africanvoice (2017-10-26). "The Krios of Sierra Leone – Pioneers throughout Africa - African Voice Newspaper". African Voice Newspaper. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  7. ^ Crowder, Michael. “Symposium of West African Archaeologists.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 1966, pp. 238–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/158948. Accessed 19 Apr. 2023.
  8. ^ "Sierra Leone Heroes: Beoku-Betts". www.sierra-leone.org.
  9. ^ Fisher, H. (1969). Elections and Coups in Sierra Leone, 1967. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 7(4), 611-636. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00018863
  10. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  11. ^ Uwechue, Raph; Limited, Africa Books (March 14, 1991). Makers of Modern Africa. Africa Journal Limited. ISBN 9780903274180 – via Google Books. {{cite book}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ Neville Shrimpton, Thomas Decker and The Death of Boss Coker (1987)
  13. ^ Brockliss, L. W. B. (2016). The University of Oxford: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 410. ISBN 9780199243563.
  14. ^ Florence Mugambi, Blazing a trail: Women Africanist PhDs, Northwestern Program of African Studies News and Events, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Spring 2020).
  15. ^ Fyle, Magbaily C. (27 March 2006). Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone. Scarecrow Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-8108-6504-4. Prominent barrister and educator, Renner-Thomas became chief justice of Sierra Leone in 2005.
  16. ^ "Another Sad Loss: APC Vice Chairman Passes Away". www.thepatrioticvanguard.com. 16 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Irene Ighodaro". Young Historians Project. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Violet Johnson Profile". www.liberalarts.tamu.edu.
  19. ^ Fyle, Magbaily (2006). Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. p. 57.
  20. ^ Marika Sherwood (2012). Origins of Pan-Africanism: Henry Sylvester Williams, Africa, and the African Diaspora. Routledge. p. 266. ISBN 9781136891137.
  21. ^ Magbaily C. Fyle, Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone, p. 38
  22. ^ Wyse, Akintola (1989). The Krio of Sierra Leone: An Interpretive History. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85065-031-7.
  23. ^ "'Private sector must help the movie industry '- Sierra Leonean Desmond Finney".
  24. ^ Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, The London Gazette, June 06, 1969; retrieved September 26, 2016
  25. ^ "Interview with Rosolu John Bankole Thompson, March 21, 2014". Kentucky Oral History. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  26. ^ "Akintola Wyse: A Brief Biography". www.hyperleap.com.
  27. ^ Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (1998), by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  28. ^ Africa Who's Who, London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 537.
  29. ^ "A review of Porter's Creoledom". www.natinpasadvantage.com.
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