Herbert Christian Bankole-Bright (23 August 1883 – 14 December 1958) was a well-known

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Early life

Herbert Bankole-Bright was born in

Okrika Okrika is an island in Rivers State, Nigeria, capital of the Local Government Area of the same name. The town is situated on an island south of Port Harcourt, making it a suburb of the much larger city. The average elevation of Okrika is 452 ...

, in an area the British would the next year designate the

Oil Rivers Protectorate The Niger Coast Protectorate was a British protectorate in the Oil Rivers area of present-day Nigeria, originally established as the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1884 and confirmed at the Berlin Conference the following year. It was renamed on 12 M ...

, on 23 August 1883, the son of Jacob Galba Bright and his wife Letitia (''née'' Williams),Christopher Fyfe
"Bright, Herbert Christian Bankole- (1883–1958)"
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 10 December 2015. Creole descendants of

Sierra Leone Liberated Africans The liberated Africans of Sierra Leone, also known as recaptives, were Africans who had been illegally enslaved onboard slave ships and rescued by anti-slavery patrols from the West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy. After the British Parliament ...

. Bright's paternal grandfather, John Bright, was an ex-slave who had been liberated off a slave ship with his mother in 1823. Bright was educated at the Wesleyan Boys' High School in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

(1898–1904), and then studied

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(1905–10), before setting up a practice in Freetown. At Edinburgh, he became "politically awake" and was involved in a number of student activist debates and policies. In November 1911 he married Addah Maude, daughter of former legislative council member T. Colenso Bishop, and they eventually had four children.

Political activist career

In 1918, Bright set up the ''Aurora'' newspaper, which he edited until 1925. In 1920, he was a founder member of the National Congress of British West Africa, and was

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to the Legislative Council in 1924. In 1925 he inspired Ladipo Solanke's formation of the

West African Students' Union The West African Students' Union (WASU), founded in London, England, in 1925 and active into the 1960s,"History o ...

, becoming a founder member. With Ernest Beoku-Betts, he campaigned for increased suffrage and against

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, without success. In 1939, following a feud with Isaac Wallace-Johnson, Bright supported government measures to limit the activities of Johnson's Youth Leagues. This alienated many of Bright's supporters, and he temporarily stepped down from politics. In the 1940s, Bright founded the National Council of Sierra Leone, and it became the main opposition at the 1951 Sierra Leonean general election. After spending the next six years attempting to obstruct all government activities, the National Council lost all its seats at the 1957 election.

Legacy

Professor Akintola J. G. Wyse wrote a biography of H. C. Bankole-Bright that was dedicated to the author's family and his late sister, Lerina Taylor-Bright.

References

Hakim Adi Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. He is the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK. He has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of A ...

, ''West Africans in Britain: 1900-1960'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bankole-Bright, Herbert 1883 births 1958 deaths Sierra Leone Creole people Saro people Sierra Leonean pan-Africanists Members of the Legislative Council of Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean people of Liberated African descent National Council of Sierra Leone politicians People educated in Freetown, Sierra Leone People from Okrika Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century Sierra Leonean people Emigrants from the Niger Coast Protectorate to Sierra Leone