National Congress of British West Africa

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The National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), founded in 1919, was the earliest nationalist organization in West Africa, and one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation.[1] It was largely composed of an educated elite in the Gold Coast, who felt under threat from the incorporation of 'traditional authorities' in the colonial system.[2]

The cofounders included Thomas Hutton-Mills, Sr., the first President, and J. E. Casely Hayford, the first Vice-President. Other co-founders and early officials included Edward Francis Small, F. V. Nanka-Bruce, A. B. Quartey-Papafio, Henry van Hien, A. Sawyerr and Kobina Sekyi.[2]

The Congress agitated for the establishment of a West African Court of Appeal, where judges would be nominated Africans.

References

  1. ^ Eluwa, G. I. C., "Background to the Emergence of the National Congress of British West Africa" (African Studies Review, Vol. 14, No. 2. [1971], 205-218), 213.
  2. ^ a b Michael R. Doortmont, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony, Brill, 2005, p. 29