Freetown,% at% the% time% the% Province% of% Freedom,% was%formally%established% as% a% British% Crown%Colony%during% the%reign%of% King%George%III%in% 1807.% The%colony%was%supervised% by%the%Sierra%Leone%Company%before%this%from%1791.%True%to%written%historical%accounts,% Pa%Kargbo%notes%that%this%settlement%was%founded%to%reChome%freed%slaves%from%Britain% and%the% New%World.% Rather%than% gifted% to%the% Crown% however,% the% land% was% secured% through% a% controversial% signed% ‘agreement’% with% a% Koya% Temne% subCchief% called% King% Tom%and%the%Koya%regent,%Naimbana.%Ijagbeni%(1968%in%Shaw%2002:%37)%has%argued%it%is% unlikely% that% the% signatories% understood% this% contractual% agreement% as% a% permanent% affair,%which%led%to%a% series%of%attacks%on%the%settlement%at%the% turn%of%the%18th%century.% Pa%Kargbo%may%be%commenting%on%these%uprisings%when%he%notes%that%‘the%tribal%people% of% the% provinces%were% not%happy%and%the% sons%of% Bai%Bureh% and% Sengbe% Pieh% went%to% battle’.
Sengbe% Pieh,% also% known% as% Joseph% Cinqué,% is%widely% associated% with% the% antislavery% movement%and%the%Amistad%Revolt%of%1839%in%the%US.%Basu%(2013a)%shows%how%this%hero% ‘returned’% to%Sierra% Leone% in%the%1990s%as%a% symbol%of% emancipation%and%now%features%
on% the% relatively% new% war% memorial% in% the% centre% of% Freetown.% Bai% Bureh,% who% also% features%on% the%monument,%did%lead%a% major%uprising%against%the% British,%however%this% was%over%a%century%after%the%founding% of%the%British%Crown% Colony%in% 1787.%He%is%most% well%known%for%his%involvement%in%the%1898%‘Hut%Tax%War’%in%the%aftermath%of%which%he% was%captured%and%imprisoned%before% being%sent%in%exile%to%what%is%now%Ghana% (Kabba% 1988).%As%Basu% shows%in% his%discussion% of% the%war%memorial%(2013a),% these% historical% ?igures%form%part%of%a%utopian%narrative%which%frames%Sierra%Leonean%history%through%a% heritage%of%‘Freedom’;%freedom%from%slavery,%and%freedom%from%British%Colonial%rule.%In% Pa% Kargbo’s% narrative% these% ?igures% are% also% paired,% however% their% relationship% with% freedom% is%less%clear.% Rather% they% temporally% come% together% to% represent% indigenous% resistance% against%against% the% British% crown,% soon% relinquished% in% this% narrative% after% they%‘get%grammar’.
As%noted%above,% Pa% Kargbo%is%himself%illiterate% but%was%keen% to%demonstrate% both%that% his%story%had%come%from%Opala%and%that%it%existed%in%written%form.%Whether%or%not%it%was% faithful%to%the%narrative%from%the%‘white%Doctor’,%he%was%keen%to%assert%that%it%was%not%his% own% invention% but% that% it% came% from% an% authority.% I% suggest%the% mimed% opening% of% a% book%also%worked% as% a% kind%of% legitimation,% giving% his% narrative%further%weight.% In% his% story,%literacy%also%gave%King%George%further%legitimation%as%King%of%Sierra%Leone,%paired% with%his%religious%convictions.%
Both% colonialism%and%religion%played% an% important%a% role%in%establishing% an%education% system% in% Sierra% Leone.% Harding% (1968:% 143)% notes% that% the% Sierra% Leone% Company% provided%a%school%for%the%colony%between%1791%and%1807.%%After%this,%education%in%Sierra% Leone% was%provided%through%missionary%work%as%well%as%the%colonial%government.%The% Church% Missionary% Society% (CMS)% and% the% Wesleyan% Methodist% Missionary% Society% played%a%central%role%here,%respectively%establishing%18%and%14%schools%by%1840%(Harding% 1968:%144).% Several%key%schools%were%established%in% Freetown%by%missions%after%1840.% These% included% the% CMS% Grammar% School% for% boys% in% 1845% and% the% Annie% Walsh% Memorial% School%in%1849,%also%established% by%CMS% (ibid).% Harding% comments%that%‘the% establishment%of%secondary%schools%in%the%Freetown%area%was%almost%entirely%to%the%zeal%
of%various%missionary%bodies’% (Harding%1968:145).% This%included% teacher%training.%The% Christian%Institution%was%founded%by%CMS%in%1816,%later%to%become%Fourah%Bay%College.%
The% British% government% played% an% increasingly% of?icial% role% in% education% after% an% Education%Code%was%enacted%in%1870,%and%formalised%by%an%Education%Ordinance%passed% in% 1882% (Harding% 1968:147).% Harding% notes% that% by% the% early% twentieth% century% missions%lost%control%of% the%education%sector%as%it%became%increasingly%managed%by%the% central% government.% A% survey% in% 1935% organised% by% the% new% Director% of% Education% concluded% that% the% state% of% schools% in% the% Protectorate% was% vastly% inferior% to% that% in% Freetown.% Since% then,% this% has% been% recognised% as% a% key% problem% for% Sierra% Leone.% Harding% was% writing% in% 1968% and% registers%concern%that%the% post%independence% years% had% not% dealt% with% the% problems% identi?ied% by% the% 1935% survey.% Education% in% Sierra% Leone% suffered% hugely% as% a% result% of% governmental% mismanagement% of% funds% in% the% 1980s% and% ever%more%so% during% the% civil%war%of% the% 1990s.% With% over%70%%of% schools% abandoned%during%the%civil%war%(Hinton%2009:%80),%educational%reform%was%identi?ied%as% a% key%priority% by% both% the% government% of% Sierra% Leone% (MNDP% and% LTNPS% 2003:23;% Government% of% Sierra% Leone% 2008),% and% the% international%donor% community%(UNICEF% 2000;%UNICEF%2002;%The%World%Bank%and%IBRD%2007:%78;%DFID%2011:%3).%This%concern% has,%as%Pa% Kargbo%notes,%played%a%signi?icant%role%in%continued%foreign%intervention%into% the%education%sector.%UNICEF,%for%example,%has%played%a%central%role%in%the%development% of% a% new%school% curriculum% and% provision% of% teacher% training% as%I% will% discuss%in% the% following%chapter.%
Pa%Kargbo’s%story%is%full%of%interventions%both%regarding%its%subject%matter,%and%the%way% it%was%initially%conveyed%to%him.%Opala%has%a%long%history%of%working%in%Sierra%Leone%and% frequently%makes%this%clear%in%selfCrepresentation%through%the%press,% or%online%pro?iles.% Yet% his% project% remains% an% intervention,% pushing% a% very% particular% AfricanCAmerican% agenda% which% has% as% yet%questionable% affect% in% Sierra% Leone.% At% the% time% of% writing,% Bunce% Island% is% in% much% the% same% state% as% it% was% when% the% project% started,% with% resources% allocated% to% the% development% of% a% virtualCreality% reconstruction% of% the% site% only%available%in%the%US,%though%this%might%change.%Pa%Kargbo’s%story%emerges%from%this%
intervention,%and%tells%the%story%of%another.%Colonialism%is%portrayed%as%a%necessary%and% legitimate%intervention%due%to%King%George’s%role%in%the% abolition%of%the%slave%trade,%his% religious% convictions,% and% later% in% the% establishment%of% education% (or%the% ‘bringing% of% grammar’)%in%Sierra%Leone.%This%narrative%is%based%on%a%version%of%the%story%which%came% from%Opala,%however,%Pa%Kargbo%seems%to%impart%his%own%understanding%of%the%history% of% Sierra% Leone% in% the% telling% of% it.% This% understanding% values% education% and% understands%it%as%something%which%is%bought%in%from%elsewhere%through%intervention.%It% is%quite%uncritical%of%colonialism,%associating%it%with%positive%and%welcome%change.%Like% the% article% above,% colonialism%and% aid% come% together%in% Pa% Kargbo’s%story%despite%this% association%being%based%on%a%somewhat%fabricated%history.%