H. C. Bankole-Bright and Politics in Colonial Sierra Leone, 1919-1958

This substantial and thoroughly documented book is a political biography of an important figure in Sierra Leone. It is also a comment on two of the major themes of the country’s history–the relations between the Colony (Krio Society) and the protectorate (the earlier inhabitants of the territory) and more importantly, the position of the imperial regime vis-a-vis its colonial subjects. The author, a Sierra Leonean and a Krio himself, skillfully examines the country’s recent history through the life of Dr. H.C. Bankole-Bright, an important leader of the Krio people. The Krio, descendants of the freed slaves, were the elite of Sierra Leone for more than a century, but ultimately they failed to master mass electoral politics during the period of decolonization leading to independence. Dr. Bankole-Bright’s failure is seen as emblematic of the disappointed hopes of the Krio as a political group in Sierra Leone. An underlying theme of the book is the misrepresentation of the Krio people in Sierra Leone historiography.