James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey
James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey ( born October 18, 1875 in Anamabu, Ghana; † 30 July 1927 in Harlem, New York City ) was a Ghanaian teacher and missionary.
Life
James Aggrey was born in Anamabu in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, the son of Kodwo Kwegyir, a confidant of former tribal chieftain Amonu IV in Anamabu. In June of 1883, at the age of almost eight years, he was baptized in a church in the Gold Coast and took on its present Christian name James. He went to a Methodist school in which he follows, it is to some sources, already noticed the teachers to be exceptional. Already at this time he received instruction in Greek and Latin.
In 1898, at the age of 23, he was chosen for his education to be trained in the United States as a missionary. On July 10, 1898 Aggrey agreed and left the Gold Coast in the USA. He settled in North Carolina and attended Livingstone College. His interests at the university were varied and included, for example, chemistry, physics, logic, economics and politics.
In May 1902 he finished the University with a doctorate and gained three academic awards. Aggrey was a gift for languages and to have spoken in addition to English, French and German also ancient and modern Greek, and Latin. In November 1903 he was appointed Zion Church in Salisbury pastor of the African Methodist. In 1905 he married Rose Douglas, with whom he had four children. In the same year he began to teach at Livingstone College.
In 1912 he was awarded a doctorate in theology in 1914 was followed by a doctorate in osteopathy. In the same year he took a job in a small town in North Carolina. Aggrey took 1915-1917 to further studies at Columbia University. Aggrey be interested at Columbia of Sociology, Psychology and the Japanese language.
In 1920 he was offered by Paul Monroe, a research expedition to Africa to attend, which should enlighten the measures were needed to improve education in Africa. Aggrey accepted the offer and visited Africa in ten countries in which he collected data on education and processed. In 1920, Sierra -Leone, Liberia, visited the Gold Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria. In 1921 followed, among others, Belgian Congo, Angola and South Africa. During this trip Aggrey said to have made considerable impression on some later personalities and these have highlighted the relevance of education. These include Hastings Kamuzu Banda beside the young, who later became president in Malawi, the young Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became the first president of Nigeria and Kwame Nkrumah, who became the first president of the independent state of Ghana.
In 1924, Aggrey was appointed by the Governor of the Crown Colony of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg appointed head of the Achimota College in Accra and accepted this position. He moved with his wife and children after Achimota, north of Accra, in the then Gold Coast has to offer. In May of 1927 he returned to his adopted home, back to the U.S., but was taken to a hospital in July 1927. On July 30, 1927, he died in hospital in Harlem.
Work
- The eagle did not fly. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1998, ISBN 3-87294-430-4.