The Gold Coast's 1919 Railway Strike: Labor and Resistance

Most histories of Ghana's independence focus on the educated elite and political parties. But what about the workers who built the country's infrastructure? This episode dives into the 1919 Gold Coast Railway Strike, a three-week walkout that shut down the colony's economic lifeline. We follow the railwaymen from Sekondi and Takoradi as they organized under the leadership of John Sarbah and the Railway Workers' Union, demanding higher wages and an end to racial discrimination. The strike forced the British colonial government to negotiate for the first time with African labor, setting a precedent for future movements. We also explore the broader context: the cocoa boom, the rise of the laboring class, and how this strike connected to the early nationalist stirrings of figures like J.E. Casely Hayford. This is not just a story of trains and tracks—it's about how ordinary people used collective action to push back against empire. #GoldCoast #RailwayStrike #1919 #Sekondi #Takoradi #JohnSarbah #RailwayWorkersUnion #ColonialLabor #BritishEmpire #GhanaHistory #LaborHistory #CocoaBoom #JECaselyHayford #Accra #Kumasi #WestAfrica #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo