William Esuman-Gwira Sekyi, better known as Kobina Sekyi (1 November 1892,

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

– 20 June 1956), was a nationalist lawyer, politician and writer in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Biography

Sekyi was the son of John Gladstone Sackey, headmaster of the Wesleyan School in Cape Coast, who was himself the son of Chief Kofi Sekyi, the Chief Regent of Cape Coast and Wilhelmina Pietersen, also known as Amba Paaba, daughter of

Willem Essuman Pietersen Willem Essuman Pietersen (c. 1844 – 6 January 1914), also known as Willem Edmund Pietersen, was a Gold Coast merchant, politician, and educationist. He is also remembered as a goldsmith and watch repairer. Pietersen was co-founder of Mfants ...

(c.1844–1914), an

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante people, Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal District, Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, Ghana, Centra ...

businessman and one-time President of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS), a later president of which was Sekyi's uncle, Henry van Hien, whose heir Sekyi was.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. 394. Sekyi was educated at

Mfantsipim School Mfantsipim is an all-boys boarding secondary school in Cape Coast, Ghana, established by the Methodist Church in 1876 to foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth on the then Gold Coast. Its founding name was Wesleyan High School and ...

and studied philosophy at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, accompanied to Britain by his maternal grandfather. He had originally wanted to become an engineer like his mother's younger brother, J. B. Essuman-Gwira, but because his family controlled the purse strings and they wished him to study law, that was the career he entered. He was called to the Bar from the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1918. Sekyi became a lawyer in private practice in the Gold Coast. He was president of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, an executive member of the

National Congress of British West Africa The National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), founded in 1917, was one of the earliest nationalist organizations in West Africa, and one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation. It was largely composed of a ...

, and member of the

Coussey Committee The Coussey Committee was established on 14 March 1949, after the 1948 Accra riots, to draft a constitution towards self-rule for the country Gold Coast. The committee was chaired by Sir Henley Coussey and published their report on 7 November 194 ...

for constitutional change. He married Lilly Anna Cleanand, daughter of John Peter Cleanand and Elizabeth Vroom. Sekyi was popular as the first educated elite appearing in a colonial court in Ghanaian cloth "ntoma" as a lawyer. It is believed he vowed never to wear European clothes as totally African. He died in Cape Coast, on 20 June 1956.

Works

Sekyi's comedy ''The Blinkards'' (1915) satirised the acceptance by a colonised society of the attitudes of the colonisers. His novel ''The Anglo-Fante'' was the first English-language novel written in the Cape Coast.

Notes

References

* Kofi Baku, "Kobina Sekyi of Ghana: An Annotated Bibliography of His Writings", ''The International Journal of African Historical Studies'', 24:2, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekyi, Kobina 1892 births 1956 deaths Lawyers from Gold Coast (British colony) Dramatists and playwrights from Gold Coast (British colony) Members of the Inner Temple 20th-century dramatists and playwrights University of Ghana alumni Mfantsipim School alumni People from Cape Coast