Influencing British Colonial Policy – Expatriate Euro-Africans and the Gold Coast Press in the Change of the 20th Century

This paper was presented at the ESSHC in Belfast 2018 in a session organized by Otso Kortekangas called "Extensions of the State and Cultural Encounters in Africa, Asia and Europe from the 17th to the 20th Century". During the later part of the 19th century and the early 20th century an increasing number of Eurafrican Gold Coasters started to venture out to Britain. The purpose of these travels was among others to pursue education, tend to business or visit friends and family. However, the atmosphere in Britain was becoming increasingly racist and unfriendly towards them, which kindled the forging of closed-knit circles and societies for Africans abroad. During their meetings local affairs of the colonies were elevated into global topical themes. In my paper I will discuss how expatriates in Britain wrote articles and influenced debates in Gold Coast newspapers, which in turn inspired policies and legislation set by the colonial government. Therefore I ask to what extent the expatriate experiences of a selected few determined the emergence of anti-colonial activity on the Gold Coast?