Ajayi crowther biography sample

Anglican bishop in Yoruba country (present day Nigeria)

Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1809 – 31 December 1891) was a Yorubalinguist, clergyman, and the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa.

Born in Osogun (in what is now Ado-Awaye, Oyo State, Nigeria), he and his family were captured by Fulani slave raiders when he was about twelve years old.^[2] This took place during the Yoruba civil wars, notably the Owu wars of 1821–1829, where his village Osogun was ransacked.

Ajayi was later on resold to Portuguese slave dealers,^[3] where he was put on board to be transported to the New World through the Atlantic.

Ajayi crowther biography sample

Crowther was freed from slavery at a coastal port by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, which was enforcing the British ban against the Atlantic slave trade. The liberated peoples were resettled in Sierra Leone.

In Sierra Leone, Ajayi adopted the English name Samuel Crowther, and began his education in English.^[4]