Returning% to%Pa% Kargbo,% his%story% about% King% George% and% Bunce% Island%is%based% on%a% narrative%pieced%together%from%his%memory%of%a%discussion%with%Opala%some%time%before% the%war.%Yet%his%account%takes%a%distinct%direction%which%is%unlikely%to%have%been%part%of% Opala’s%original%account.%Like% the%article%by%Thomas%quoted% above,% Pa% Kargbo%makes%a% connection%between%colonialism%in%the%past,%and%intervention%and%aid%in%the%present.%His% narrative,% however,% presents% a% very% different%interpretation% of% this%relationship.% Both% colonialism% and% continued% aid% intervention% are% valued% in% his% story,% embedded% in% a% broader%history%of%Sierra%Leone.
Pa% Kargbo’s%story% begins%by% suggesting% that% Africans% played% a% dominant%role% in% both% supplying% and% selling% slaves% to% the% Portuguese.% King% George% is% depicted% as% singlehandedly%ending%this%trade,%led%by%his%religious%and%moral%convictions.%Opala%was% recently% criticised% in% the% Sierra% Leonean% Press% by% Professor% Magbaily% Fyle% on% this%
subject.%Fyle%is%associated%with%Ohio%State%University’s%Department%of%AfricanCAmerican% and%African%Studies%as%well%as%Fourah%Bay%College%in%Freetown.%He%has%written%a%number% of% publications% concerning% Sierra% Leonean% history%(Fyle% and%Richards% 1988;% Fyle% and% Foray%2006).% Fyle% complained% that%Opala% had% misrepresented%the% history%of% the% slave% trade%in% Sierra% Leone% when%he% commented%over%SLBC%radio% that%‘Sierra% Leoneans%had% been%busy%selling% each%other,%then%the%British%(white%people,%I%think%he% said)%came%here% to%help%them’%(Fyle%2010).%Fyle%notes%that%‘this%was%in%obvious%reference%to%colonialism’.%
This%speaks%to%a%wider%debate%concerning%the%role%of%African%agency%in%orchestrating%the% transatlantic%slave% trade.% Shaw% (2002:% 30)% observes% that% in% Sierra% Leone,% as% in% other% places%in% Africa,% slaves% were% acquired% for%trade% through% raids%and% warfare.% She% notes% that%arguments%which% claim% that%wars%of% the%slave% trade% era% were% to%do% with% internal% political% strife,% rather% than% economic% bene?its% driven% by% European% trade,% has% been% presented%as%‘one%that%restores%agency%to%Africans’%(ibid).%In%Sierra%Leone,%Shaw%argues% the%trade%was%clearly%an%‘intersection%of%African%and%European%agency’%(2002:%32).%Fyle,% on%the%other%hand,%argues%the%slave%trade%was%‘demand%driven’,%‘meaning%that%those%who% wanted% slaves% used% resources% and% leveraged% power% to% ensure% that% the% slave% trade% dominated% trade% on% the% West% African% coast,% to% the% extent% where% all% societies%had% to% participate% or% face% extinction% at% the% hands% of% the% White% slave% traders’% (2010).% Either% way,%Pa%Kargbo’s%narrative%of% warriors%‘raiding% towns,%taking% their%brothers%and%killing% them’,% until% they% are% saved% by% the% British% King% George,% may% have% originated% in% his% reading%of%Opala’s%narrative%which%Fyle%criticises.
Pa% Kargbo’s% narrative% credits% the% end% of% the% slave% trade% to% the% actions% of% a% morally% motivated% King.% George% III% was% sovereign% at% the% time% of% the% BritishCled% abolitionist% movement%which%certainly%had%an%ideological%and%moral%dimension,%though%of%course%he% had% little% personal%involvement% in% the% movement.% Although% the% monarch% would% have% signed% the% Act% of% Parliament% which% abolished% the% trade% in% Britain% in% 1807,% he% never% visited%Sierra%Leone%nor%did%he%have%any%direct%involvement%in%the%abolition%movement.% The%movement%in%Great%Britain%was%led%by%the%London%Abolition%Committee%established% in%1787.%Pa%Kargbo%presents%King%George’s%role%in%the%abolition%as%religiously%motivated,%
which% may% be% associated% with% early% presentations% of% the% abolition% movement% as% a% religious% philanthropic% mission% (Jennings% 1997:vii).% Jennings% notes% that% William% Wilberforce% has% historically% been% depicted% as% a% key% ?igure% in% this% regard,% led% by% his% Evangelical%Christian%values%(1997:vii).%His%two%sons%wrote%a%biography%for%Wilberforce% in%1839%where% his%religious%convictions%are% said%to%have%driven% his%commitment%to%the% cause.% They%note% ‘he%stanched% the%woulds%of% one,%while% he% stayed%the% progress%of% the% other%in%a%career%of%oppression%and%cruelty%which% could% not%but%have% called% down% the% just%vengeance%of%a%righteous%God’%(Wilberforce%and%Wilberforce,%1838:iiv).%Wilberforce% emerges% as% a% God% fearing% character%concerned% by%God’s%wrath.% This%is% echoed% by%Pa% Kargbo%in%his% depiction%of% King% George’s%concern% driven%by%his%advisor’s% claim% that%‘if% the% white% man% continues% like% this,% they%will%burn’.% Of% course% the% movement% has% since% been% understood% as% emerging% from% a% much% broader% set% of% historical% changes% and% political%and%economic%pressures%(Drescher%2004:2;%Jennings%1997:ix).%A%focus%on%piety,% however,%is%central%to%Pa% Kargbo’s%broader%narrative%which%also%concerns%the% crowning% of% King% George% in%Sierra% Leone.% It% seems%to% give% him% a% certain% legitimacy%to%intervene% and%crucially%also%frames%his%rights%as%monarch.
Pa% Kargbo’s%focus%on%King% George% is%likely%to%derive%from% the% fact% that%George% III%was% representative% of% Britain% at% the% time% of% the% abolitionist% movement.% However,% the% centrality% of% King% George% may% also% be% associated% with% the% large% cannons% which% surround%Bunce%Island.%Many%of%these%are%stamped%with%George%III’s%insignia%and%dated% to%the%turn%of%the%18th%century.%During%his%tour,%Pa%Kargbo%explained%that%these%were%the% King’s%weapons,%used%to%defeat%the%French%when%they%tried%to%attack%the%island%and%take% the%‘freed%Sierra%Leoneans’%back%to%America.%
This%narrative%is%somewhat%confused.%Though%French%naval%forces%did%attack%the%island% in% 1779% and%1794,% this%has%been% associated% with% France’s%alliance% with% the% American% Loyalists% during% the% American% War%of% Independence% by% Opala% (Wikipedia:% The% Free% Encyclopedia% 2012).% Portelli’s% (1981)% notion% of% mode% and% periodisation% in% oral% historical% accounts% is%useful% here% as% a% tool%for%thinking% about% the% way% temporality%is% organised% in% Pa% Kargbo’s% narrative.% As% Portelli% observed% during% his% ?ieldwork% in% Italy%
‘time% is% divided% horizontally% into% periods% and% eras,% and% “hung”% on% key% events%which% operate% as% partitions% and% interpreters% of% the% meaning% of% each% period’% (1981:% 171).% Rather%than%following%chronological%time,%Tonkin%(1992:%71C75)%explores%how%different% temporalities%are%coCexistent%and%cross%over,%highlighting% the%tenuous%link%between%the% duration%of% time% marked%with%technologies%of% time,%such%as%calendars%and%clocks,%and% time%experienced%or%remembered.%Pa%Kargbo’s%narrative%which%he%told%me%at%the%SLNM% is%arguably%‘hung’% on% particular%events%which%come% together%to%plot%his%history%of% the% slave%trade.%These%include%the%African%trade%in%their%‘brothers’,%King%George’s%religiously% motivated%travels%to%and%from%America,%the%‘return’%of%former%slaves%and%the%‘bringing%of% grammar’.%The% latter%is%the%only%stage%which%involved%King% George%setting%foot%in%Sierra% Leone,%and%I%wonder%whether%this%is%merged%with%the% French%attacks%and%consolidated% into% a% single% moment% by%the% presence% of% the% royal% cannons,% the% only%tangible% legacy% which%can%be%directly%associated%with%George%III.