The Aborigines' Rights Protection Society: Ghana's First Political Protest

In 1897, a group of educated African elites in the Gold Coast formed the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS) to resist a British bill that threatened to alienate their ancestral lands. This episode traces the origins of the ARPS from the 1897 Lands Bill crisis to their successful 1898 delegation to London, which forced the colonial government to withdraw the bill. We explore key figures such as John Mensah Sarbah, J.W. de Graft Johnson, and J.E. Casely Hayford, and examine how the ARPS used petitions, journalism, and diplomacy to defend customary land tenure. Their victory set a precedent for organized African political advocacy and laid the groundwork for later nationalist movements. We also discuss the society's decline after 1900 and its legacy in Ghana's independence struggle. #AboriginesRightsProtectionSociety #ARPS #JohnMensahSarbah #JWdeGraftJohnson #JECaselyHayford #LandsBill1897 #CrownLandsBill #GoldCoast #ColonialGhana #LandTenure #AfricanElites #PoliticalProtest #Petition #DelegationtoLondon #BritishColonialism #GhanaHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo