BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO SIERRA LEONEAN " MRS CASELY HAYFORD " SHE IS AN AFRICAN FEMINIST THAT SPAN TWO DIFFERENT CENTURIES AND TOWER OF FEARLESS BLACK WOMEN : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

              BLACK       SOCIAL        HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 This version of the life of Adelaide Smith Casely Hayford is largely
autobiographical but, while one can honestly express feelings and
describe important events in the course of one’s own life time, others
can better see the setting in which one lived and how one’s life impacted
on and was affected by others.
Mrs. Casely Hayford’s life was not only long but expansive, affecting
many persons and many cultures. Therefore, I am indebted to numerous
persons in Sierra Leone and in the United States for the knowledge
needed to understand and interpret Mrs. Casely Hayford’s own story of
her life.
Dr. Arthur Porter and the late Dr. M.C.F. Easmon introduced me to
Mrs. Casely Hayford and through their writings to the world from which
she came.
Many persons in Freetown have given generously of their time and
knowledge, none more consistently and patiently than Miss Frances
Claudia Wright who provided access to the contemporary society of
Freetown, legal research and cordial hospitality. Others without whose
assistance I could not have worked were Mrs. Phyllis Renner GeorgeCoker,
Mrs. Olivette Stuart Caulker, Mrs. Constance Cummings-John,
Mrs. Agnes Smythe Macaulay, Mr. Samuel Collins Hayford, Mrs. Lena
Spilsbury Johnson, the Reverend E.J.Y. Harris, Lady Bankole-Jones,
the late Mrs. Jenner Wright and the late Mrs. Elizabeth Clinton
Dawson.
The late Mr. Archibald Casely Hayford of Ghana permitted me to
read and copy many letters exchanged between Mrs. Casely Hayford
and his father, her husband. Mrs. Pearl Jones-Quarty, the sister-in-law
of Mrs. Archibald Casely Hayford facilitated this contact.
Kobe (Cobina Sydney) Hunter, her grandson, permitted me to read
the unpublished collection of his Mother’s poetry and to select for
inclusion those poems reflecting her feelings towards Mrs. Casely
Hayford.*
Mrs. Mary Hayford Edmondson, her niece-in-law, reminisced about
life at the Girls Vocational and Industrial School and provided some of
the rare photographs still in existence of the school and its pupils.
Dr. Raymond Sarif Easmon and Dr. Davidson Nicol, who knew
#See Memoirs and Poems by Adelaide Casely Hayford and Gladys Casely Hayford, ed. Lucilda
Hunter (Sierra Leone University Press, 1983).