The West African Youth League (WAYL) was a political organisation founded by

I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson (1894 – 10 May 1965) was a Sierra Leonean, British West African workers' leader, journalist, activist and politician. Born into a poor Creole family in British Sierra Leone, he emerged as a natural le ...

in June 1935.. The group was a major political force against the colonial government in West Africa, especially in the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone. The League was the first political movement in the region "to recruit women into the main membership and the decision-making bodies of the organisation". In 1938 the popularity of the League increased in Sierra Leone as Wallace-Johnson returned. The league contested and won the Freetown City Council elections in the same year. At the time Wallace-Johnson claimed that the organisation had a membership of 40 000. Following the Freetown election victory, the British authorities arrested Wallace-Johnson.AfricaNews - Wallace Johnson's legacy still thrives - Chernoh
/ref> The league went into disarray after Wallace-Johnson was sent to prison on Sherbro Island in 1939. After attempting to revive the organisation in 1944, Wallace-Johnson took it into the

Pan-African Federation The Pan-African Federation was a multinational Pan-African organization founded in Manchester, United Kingdom, in 1944. Participating groups Participating groups included: * Negro Association (Manchester) * Coloured Workers Association (London ...

set up in Manchester, United Kingdom. He decided to merge it into the

National Council of Sierra Leone The National Council of Sierra Leone was the main opposition party in Sierra Leone in the early 1950s. The organisation was founded by former members of the Sierra Leonean branch of the National Congress of British West Africa around Herbert Banko ...

in 1950. Mary Lokko served as Wallace-Johnson's assistant for a time beginning in 1936, becoming likely the first woman in West Africa to hold a position in a political organization.

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* . * . * . * . * . * . * . {{Authority control Anti-racist organizations in Africa International political organizations Civil liberties advocacy groups Civil rights organizations Politics of Sierra Leone Politics of Ghana Politics of West Africa British West Africa Youth organizations established in 1935 1935 establishments in Africa 1935 establishments in the British Empire