Adelaide Casely-Hayford

Adelaide Casely-Hayford, was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, activist of cultural nationalism, teacher, fiction writer, and feminist. Her commitment to public service led her to improving the conditions of black men and women. She played an important role as an advocate of women's education in Sierra Leone to popularize Pan-Africanist and feminist politics in the early 1900s. In 1923, she founded a Girls' Vocational and Training School in Freetown to instil cultural and racial pride for Sierra Leoneans under colonial rule. The school lasted until 1940 and strongly emphasized the education of African women. She later went on to further her mission of feminism and cultural nationalism from the school by writing short stories and memoirs. In 1925, she attended a reception in honour of the Prince of Wales where she wore an African attire thereby creating a sensation in pursuit of Sierra Leone national identity and cultural heritage.