Kobina Sekyi

Kobina Sekyi, born William Esuman-Gwira Sekyi, was a Gold Coast nationalist lawyer, politician and writer. His comedy The Blinkards (1915) mocked Africans who copied British manners, and his novel The Anglo-Fante (1918) was the first English-language novel written in Cape Coast.

Early life and education

He was born on 1 November 1892 in Cape Coast, the son of John Gladstone Sackey, headmaster of the Wesleyan School and son of Chief Kofi Sekyi, the Chief Regent of Cape Coast. His mother's family included leaders of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society. He attended Mfantsipim School and studied philosophy at University College London. He had hoped to become an engineer, but his family wanted him to be a lawyer, and he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1918.

Lawyer and nationalist

He practised law in the Gold Coast and became known as the first educated lawyer to appear in a colonial court wearing Ghanaian ntoma cloth instead of European dress. He was president of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, an executive member of the National Congress of British West Africa and a member of the Coussey Committee on constitutional reform.

Writing

The Blinkards satirised the way a colonised society took on the attitudes of its colonisers. The Anglo-Fante was serialised in West Africa magazine in 1918.

Family and death

He married Lilly Anna Cleanand. He died in 1956.