Far Ahead of his Time : James Africanus Horton's Initiatives for a West African University and his Frustrations, 1862-1871

Abstract

Abstract African demand for the provision of facilities for university education in British colonies began in 1861 through 1868 when James Africanus Horton, a Sierra Leonean creole, appealed to the British War Office to establish a small medical school and a West African University in Sierra Leone. Horton viewed education as the chief agent of civilization and development which was capable of freeing Africans from alleged racial inferiority. British missionaries and colonial officiais ardently opposed the university idea because it would involve huge budgetary costs, loss of jobs for them, and confer a sense of racial equality upon Africans. Although Horton failed to realize his dream, he was clearly far ahead of his time; his initiatives ultimately resulted in the minimal degree work at Fourah Bay College, inspired other African intelligentsia, and constituted the rationale for subsequent British post-war university schemes in Africa in the 1940's.