It is time to tell again the long-neglected story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, writes Gareth Sturdy.
If you know the name, it probably resounds as that of a hero. Such heroes, unacknowledged in their own time and then ignored by their immediate successors, end up being the Really Important Ones. Their stature is so great that it is missed entirely up-close, gets larger the more distant you are from it, and can only been seen in its true glory from space.
If the name is unknown to you, then you are the victim of a cover-up. How else can you have missed one of the most important Africans of the modern era?
It is an opportune moment to reassess Crowther in the light of new understanding. A light that glares at the cover up and reveals a significance greater than that so far ascribed to him by even his most loyal champions.
Our Baba,
The Most Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Doctor of Divinity, Oxford.
Born circa 1809-
31 December 1891, died 130 years ago last night just before the new year rolled in. pic.twitter.com/lGITQ2M3DM— Yoruba History – by NNP (@YorubaHistory) January 1, 2021