HistoryVille

As Nigeria marks 55 years since the end of the civil war, it is an opportune moment to chart a course toward a more united, prosperous, and peaceful future. Fostering a strong sense of national identity is paramount. #OnThisDay

Full story: https://youtu.be/Qv5-ttZL2BA

2 months ago | [YT] | 34

HistoryVille

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2 months ago | [YT] | 33

HistoryVille

Christmas in Badagry, Lagos, British Nigeria, 1923.

This is a Christmas photo of the staff of the African Oil Nuts Company and Miller Brothers of Badagry in Nigeria in 1923. Mr and Mrs Baxendale of Miller Brothers, a Liverpool-based company, are seated on the bench at the right-hand side.

The mass of photographs taken in Africa by Europeans, such as the one made in 1923 and sent back to England as a colonial Christmas card from the African Oil Nuts Company and Miller Brothers, which was based in Badagry, Nigeria, illustrates the debasing approach by colonials to taking photographs of Africans as a form of trophy image-making.

This seminal photograph now forms part of a permanent exhibition at Liverpool’s Slavery Museum. It is on continuous public display because it highlights the level of colonial cultural arrogance that was at work in visualising the black body and which existed in the mind of the coloniser in the early part of the 20th century.

The marking of the African men with white paint constructs the workers as being wholly devoid of any authority over their own bodies. Each painted letter represents an absolute mark of domination by the colonial rulers. The company owners join the frame, positioning themselves for the camera in front of the marked black bodies that function as the backdrop to this colonial festive message.

It is the complete objectification of the black men that makes the photograph so extreme and is vital to the transference of the intended colonial humorous message generated by the photograph.

Reading the photograph now allows us to connect the colonial mindset across space and time, creating a cultural affirmation of the racist attitudes so prevalent in the making of images of black subjects in Africa and within the imagination of Imperial Britain. #HistoryVille

Source: Merry Xmas, photograph in album, photographer unknown, Nigeria, 1923. 2000/098/1/52 Given by Miss V. Verdin, Dr Mark Sealy MBE, International Slavery Museum exhibit, September 4, 2015

4 months ago | [YT] | 120

HistoryVille

Robert Campbell (May 7, 1829 – January 19, 1884) was a Jamaican-born emigrant to Nigeria who distinguished himself as an author and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of the Anglo-African, the first newspaper to be published in Lagos.

In 1858, Campbell joined Martin R. Delany on the Niger Valley Exploring Party, a mission aimed at identifying a suitable site in West Africa for the settlement of Black Americans. The expedition selected Abeokuta, in present-day Nigeria, as a promising location and subsequently returned to the United States to prepare for settlement.

In March 1862, Campbell returned to West Africa with his wife and four children, intending to settle in Abeokuta and establish a colony of Black Americans in Egbaland. However, the outbreak of the American Civil War, coupled with opposition from leaders of the British Colony of Lagos and ongoing disputes between the Egba people and the British, made his settlement plans unfeasible.

Instead, Campbell settled in Lagos, where he founded The Anglo-African newspaper. The first edition was published on June 6, 1863, and the paper ran weekly until December 1865. Despite its moderate success, the publication faced opposition from the British governor, Henry Stanhope Freeman, who viewed it as a potential source of discord among the colony’s factions. Freeman’s attempts to impose a tax on the newspaper were ultimately unsuccessful.

Campbell was deeply committed to the commercial development of Lagos, but his efforts were hampered by the ongoing Yoruba civil wars, which disrupted trade along the region’s rivers. In response, Campbell, along with other Lagosians, petitioned the Colonial Office to install a strong governor in Lagos, suggesting Captain John Hawley Glover. They hoped that such leadership would stabilise the interior by ending the wars and reopening trade routes.

Robert Campbell died in Lagos on January 19, 1884. He was 54. His legacy as a pioneer journalist and advocate for the advancement of Lagos and its people remains a significant part of Nigerian/West African history. #HistoryVille

4 months ago | [YT] | 144

HistoryVille

Missionary James White preaches the Gospel before Oba Akitoye of Lagos and his chiefs in his palace on Sunday, January 11, 1852.

For 10 years, between 1842 and 1852, missionary activities thrived in Abeokuta. During this period, the work of the missionaries prospered, and their numbers steadily grew. The mission expanded to other towns near Abeokuta, laying the foundation for further outreach.

At this time, Lagos had not yet come under British control, and the city remained a hub of the transatlantic slave trade. The eventual British conquest of Lagos would later open the door for Christianity to take root in the city.

In October 1851, the British Government issued orders to the British Naval Commander stationed in the Bight of Benin to expel the slave traders, including King Kosoko and his allies, from Lagos. This directive was carried out effectively, and by the end of 1851, Lagos fell to a British squadron led by Captain Glover.

After intense fighting on Boxing Day, December 26, 1851, the British successfully captured Lagos. With the city now under British rule, there arose a pressing need for missionaries to serve both the European residents and the local population.

Captain Glover extended an invitation to the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, stationed at Badagry, to expand its activities to Lagos. In response, the Reverend Charles A. Gollmer, who was the missionary at the Badagry station, dispatched Mr. James White, a native catechist, to Lagos. Mr. White’s mission was to assess the situation and commence evangelistic work in the city.

Mr. James White arrived in Lagos on Saturday, January 10, 1852, and began his ministry without delay. On Sunday, January 11, 1852, he delivered the first-ever Christian sermon in Lagos at the King’s quarters. His sermon attracted a large congregation, and two services were held that day—one in the morning and another in the afternoon. This historic occasion earned Mr. White the title of the “Lagos Evangelist.”

The initial missionary efforts in Lagos were met with great success, as many people converted to Christianity. Recognising Lagos as fertile ground for the Gospel, the C.M.S. decided to establish a permanent mission station there. During the first six months of missionary activity in Lagos, Reverend Gollmer remained in Badagry but visited Lagos periodically to support the work.

On March 1, 1852, Oba Akitoye, the King of Lagos, formalised the missionaries’ presence by signing an agreement granting land to the Church Missionary Society. The agreement specified that the land was to be given unconditionally, free of charge, and without any time limitations, ensuring the church’s enduring presence in Lagos. #HistoryVille

4 months ago | [YT] | 98

HistoryVille

Nigeria has produced the highest number of footballers to have won the prestigious CAF Men's Player of the Year Award.

1. Rashidi Yekini (1993)

2. Emmanuel Amuneke (1994)

3. Nwankwo Kanu (1996, 1999)

4. Victor Ikpeba (1997)

5. Victor Osimhen (2023)

6. Ademola Lookman (2024)

Atlanta's Ademola Lookman (pictured) became the sixth player when he won the award in Marrakesh, Morocco, on December 16, 2024. #HistoryVille

4 months ago | [YT] | 268

HistoryVille

Yakov Dzhugashvili, Joseph Stalin's first son, shot himself because of his father's harshness towards him but survived. After this, Stalin reportedly said, “He can’t even shoot straight.”

In 1941, during World War II, Yakov was captured while fighting the Germans. Realising it was Stalin's son, Adolf Hitler then made an offer to Stalin that he would release his son in exchange for Friedrich Paulus, the German Field Marshal captured by the Soviets.

However, Stalin rejected the offer by saying, “I will not trade a Marshal for a Lieutenant." Yakov died in captivity and this was seen by Stalin as a more honourable death. #HistoryVille

4 months ago | [YT] | 106

HistoryVille

#OnThisDay, December 10, 2005, 19 years ago, the Sosoliso plane crash happened. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 passenger jet, on its way from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, slammed into the ground on landing and burst into flames at the Port Harcourt International Airport killing 107 people, including 59 children from a single Abuja school on their way home for the Christmas holidays.

Of the 103 passengers and seven crew members, there were only two survivors. Many passengers survived the initial impact but died in the resulting fire. Other passengers later died from their injuries.

The Port Harcourt Airport had one fire truck and no ambulances. None of the seven crew members survived the crash. Out of the 60 children from Ignatius Loyola Jesuit College; a boarding school located in Abuja, 59 were killed, with Kechi Okwuchi being the only survivor. The other survivor was Bunmi Amusan who survived with 40% burns on her body. #HistoryVille

4 months ago | [YT] | 26

HistoryVille

FREDERICK LUGARD: FRIENDZONED IN MARRIAGE

When Frederick Lugard proposed to Flora Shaw, she declined initially. The man she was deeply in love with and had hoped to marry after his wife, Matilda, died in 1898, Sir George Taubman Goldie, founder of the Royal Niger Company with a private empire of over 300,000 square miles, had rebuffed her.

Shaw reconsidered Lugard's 1901 proposal on the rebound and accepted it with these words:

"You once said you would win my love. I too, hope to win yours. We can't force it. Let us not try on either side, but let us be content to marry as friends."

Lugard and Shaw were married in Madeira in 1902. She was 49, while he was 44, and by her accounts, she did not share a bedroom with her husband. They both died childless.

Flora Shaw was an accomplished author, a one-time highest-paid female journalist in England, a lobbyist and a political correspondent. She was described as fair, extremely intelligent and professional. She died of pneumonia in January 1929, three days after Lugard's 71st birthday. She was 76.

Friendzoned in a 26-year-old marriage, Lugard would survive his wife by 16 years and died on April 11, 1945. He was 87. #HistoryVille

5 months ago | [YT] | 73

HistoryVille

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SERVED "BREAKFAST?"

A young, average-looking bachelor officer in the Indian Army had fallen in love, much against his will, with an outstanding beauty called Frances Gambier in Lucknow, India.

Not only was she breathtakingly beautiful, but she was also acutely intelligent to boot, authoring well-acclaimed journals and articles in major newspapers. She was well-placed in society and an avowed equestrian with a penchant for breaking wild horses.

With the conviction that she was his one true love and exiting the scene on a convenient mission to Burma while the dust settled, he gave her comforting words, his plans for their future together and his heart; lock, stock and barrel. And he departed.

The bad news that she had been in an accident and was now recuperating in London, caught up with him overseas. Permission granted by his superiors and half-mad with fear and anxiety, he went seeking Frances. He found her, to his uttermost shock and disbelief, much recovered in the arms of, yet, another gentleman she had recently married.

The "breakfast" was too much for him to bear. He resigned his position in the military and in a suicidal bid, looked for and accepted the riskiest expedition, anywhere.

That expedition was with the African Lakes Company to Uganda in 1888; that gentleman was Frederick Lugard, who would amalgamate Nigeria in 1914. It would take him almost 12 years to find that kind of love again in another journalist, Flora Shaw, who served him another type of "breakfast."

More on that in our next post. #HistoryVille

5 months ago | [YT] | 68