Sankofa

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of racism.

Anna visits the British Library and checks out two books: Kofi Adjei’s autobiography, Memoirs of a Freedom Fighter, and a book titled Bamana: The First Hundred Days. The second book is a profile of Bamana under Kofi Adjei and is written by a professor named Adrian Bennett. Kofi’s autobiography details his birth into a poor family. His father, Kwabena, was born in the village of Yabo and enslaved by the British, but he later escaped and fled to the nearby port city of Segu, where he was taken in by Irish missionaries. A local English commissioner named John Aggrey employed Kwabena as a servant, eventually changing his name to Peter Aggrey. John helped Peter to find a job as a clerk in the railroad office. When Peter was 36, he met and married 16-year-old Clara. They bore one child, Kofi.

Kofi also describes how he excelled at school and was lauded for his decision to study engineering in England. He does not mention Bronwen at all but instead describes meeting his wife, Elizabeth, after returning to Bamana. Frustrated by the slow-moving and regressive mainstream politics of the Diamond Coast, he founded the Diamond Coast Liberation Group as a more radical alternative.