Fourah Bay College
 | |
| Latin: Collegium Fourah Bay | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | February 18, 1827 |
| Students | 3,465 total |
| Location | PO Box 87 Mount Aureol, Freetown , 8°28′37.9″N 13°13′16.3″W / 8.477194°N 13.221194°WCoordinates: 8°28′37.9″N 13°13′16.3″W / 8.477194°N 13.221194°W |
| Campus | Freetown campus (urban) |
| Language | English |
| Affiliations | University of Sierra Leone |
| Website | fourahbaycollege |
Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in West Africa and, furthermore, the first university-level institution in Africa. It is a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone (USL) and was formerly affiliated with Durham University (1876–1967).[1]
History[]
Foundation[]
The college was established in February 1827 as an Anglican missionary school by the Church Missionary Society with support from Charles MacCarthy, the governor of Sierra Leone. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first student to be enrolled at Fourah Bay.[2] Fourah Bay College soon became a magnet for Sierra Leone Creoles and other Africans seeking higher education in British West Africa. These included Nigerians, Ghanaians, Ivorians and many more, especially in the fields of theology and education. It was the first western-style university in West Africa. Under colonialism, Freetown was known as the "Athens of Africa" due to the large number of excellent schools in Freetown and surrounding areas.
The first black principal of the university was an African-American missionary, Reverend Edward Jones from South Carolina, United States. Lamina Sankoh was a prominent early academic; Francis Heiser was principal from 1920 to 1922. Davidson Nicol was the first Sierra Leonean administrator in 1966.
Old Fourah Bay College Building[]
Governor William Fergusson laid the foundation stone of the original Fourah Bay College building when construction started in 1845, with construction supervised by Edward Jones, who became the institution's first principal. The original Fourah Bay College building remained in regular use until World War II when the college was temporarily moved outside Freetown. After the war it became the headquarters of Sierra Leone Government Railway and later as a Magistrate court. The building was proclaimed a National Monument in 1955. The building ceased to be in use in early 1990, and caught fire in 1999.[3]
Administration[]
Faculties[]
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Law
- Faculty of Applied Accounting
Institutes[]
Institute of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies[]
Institute of African Studies[]
Work began on the building of the Institute of African Studies in 1966 with half the £40,000 being provided by the . The first Director was Michael Crowder with J. G. Edowu-Hyde as secretary. The journal Sierra Leone Studies was also relaunched at this time.[4]
Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography[]
Institute of Population Studies[]
Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies[]
Students[]
As of 1998/1999, the student enrollment was around 2,000 in four faculties and five institutes. It had consistently expanded in the 10 previous years.
Notable alumni[]
See also Category:Fourah Bay College alumni
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther
- Michael Adekunle Ajasin
- Kelvin Anderson
- Alexander Babatunde Akinyele
- Zainab Bangura
- Kojo Botsio
- Henry Rawlingson Carr
- Christian Cole, barrister, the first black African to practice law in an English court and the first black student at the University of Oxford[5]
- Robert Benjamin Ageh Wellesley Cole
- J. B. Dauda, Foreign Minister
- Kenneth Dike, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan
- M. G. Ejaife
- David J. Francis
- Ibrahim Fofanah, Avionics engineer
- Ella Koblo Gulama
- J. E. Casely Hayford
- Thomas Horatio Jackson
- Dr. Africanus Horton, M.D.
- Obadiah Johnson
- Abu Bakarr Kanu, Professor of Chemistry at the Winston-Salem State University
- John Karefa-Smart
- Fatou Sanyang Kinteh
- Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone
- Sia Koroma, First Lady
- Sir Milton Margai
- Sam Mbakwe
- Benjamin Quartey-Papafio
- Dr. Kadi Sesay
- Shekou Touray, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations
References[]
- ^ "About Us". Fourah Bay College. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ Kopytoff, Jean Herskovits. A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The "Sierra Leonians" in Yoruba, 1830–1890. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 35.
- ^ "Old Fourah Bay College Building". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Crowder, Michael (1966). "Institute of African Studies, Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone". The Journal of Modern Sierra Leone Studies. 4 (1): 95–6. JSTOR 159418.
- ^ Liddell, Marcus (18 October 2017). "Christian Cole: Oxford University's first black student". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
External links[]
Media related to Fourah Bay College at Wikimedia Commons- Official Fourah Bay College website
- Fourah Bay College history
- Urhobo Historical Society.
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- Fourah Bay College
- Universities and colleges in Sierra Leone
- Education in Freetown
- Educational institutions established in 1827
- British West Africa
- 1827 establishments in the British Empire