Using child labor to save souls: the Basel Mission in colonial Ghana, 1855–1900

Abstract

The notion that Europeans had a duty to civilize “slaves, sinners and savages” was used as a justification for nineteenth-century colonialism and evangelization. Wherever European missionaries traveled, they carried the message that slavery and slave trading were morally abhorrent. Despite deep antislavery sentiments in Britain, the abolition of slavery in colonial Ghana did not end the forced labor of children in the colony. The process and consequences of abolition in the Caribbean and in India shaped the steps that were taken when slavery was outlawed in colonial Ghana. Following the Emancipation Ordinance, the use of children as slaves was particularly common. The Basel Mission, in particular, often relied on the labor of unpaid children. These children were largely students at the mission schools who split their time between general education, Bible study, and unpaid labor. The conflict between the missionaries' philosophical opposition to slavery and their need to support the continued growth of the Mission through trade, led to a complicated relationship between the missionaries and African children. Despite its opposition to slavery, the Basel Mission was often directly involved in mediating the exploitation of child labor through established African institutions such as slavery, pawnship, and debt bondage.

Keywords:

• Basel Mission
• childhood
• forced labor
• Gold Coast
• abolition
• slavery

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the two anonymous reviewers. Their comments and advice were instrumental in the publication of this article. Thanks are also owed to Audra A. Diptee and James Miller for their helpful comments.

Notes on contributor

Catherine Koonar is pursuing her doctorate in history at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on children and childhood as it relates to the global South. She is particularly interested in transnational histories of children and childhood.

Notes

1. Lovejoy. Transformations in Slavery, 18.

2. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 8.

3. Barnett, Empire of Humanity, 57–75.

4. Miers, Ending of the Slave Trade, 153–4.

5. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 61.

6. This article works with Beverly Grier's notions of child labor in Africa. Grier has suggested certain characteristics as being common to child labor in Africa from the precolonial period to the present. First, children and youth have been sought after “in their own right” and not only when the labor of adults was in short supply. Second, coercion (overt or covert) was often used both in the acquisition and maintenance of children as laborers. Third, despite the fact that children are usually physically and emotionally weak when compared to adults, they are not necessarily passive or helpless and there have been many instances in which children have exercised agency in an effort to alter relationships with employers, parents, masters, mistresses, missionaries, and captors. Grier, “Child Labor and Africanist Scholarship,” 6–7.

7. This article focuses mainly on Akan groups and uses primarily Basel Mission Correspondence regarding schools and mission stations in Abetifi, Akropong, Akwapim, Anum, Begoro, Buem, Fankyeneko, and Kibi to analyze the use of children as laborers between 1855 and 1900.

8. This article makes use of the English “Abstracts of the Basel Mission Correspondence” (“Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft in Basel”) (hereafter BM) documents in series D-1 and series D-12 compiled by Paul Jenkins. In each instance in which this source is referenced, the year in brackets refers to the year noted by Jenkins in his transcription of the original German documents.

9. The history of children and childhood in Africa is a relatively undeveloped field. The pioneering work in this field is Grier's study Invisible Hands. In other words, the historiography on childhood goes back merely a decade. As a result, the kind of nuance one would expect in a more developed field with a richer historiography is impossible at this point. For this reason, this article aims to merely offer a snapshot of children's experiences upon which other historians can build a richer more sophisticated historiography.

10. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 99–100.

11. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 99–100.

12. Portuguese merchants were present on the coast as early as the 1470s. Dutch traders followed them later in the 1590s. Soon after this, the British, French, Dutch, Swedish, and German merchants were all present in the coastal region at one time. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 103.

13. Portuguese merchants were present on the coast as early as the 1470s. Dutch traders followed them later in the 1590s. Soon after this, the British, French, Dutch, Swedish, and German merchants were all present in the coastal region at one time. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 103.

14. Carmichael, African Eldorado, 126.

15. The 1873–1874 British–Asante War was a “turning point” in the history of the region. The British defeat over the Asante was much more complete than in previous conflicts since the mid-nineteenth century. The British were able to establish a broad protectorate region and as a result could institute antislavery policy that abolished the legal status of slavery. See Lovejoy, “Introduction,” x.

16. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 99–100.

17. Carmichael, African Eldorado, 180.

18. Carmichael, African Eldorado, 180.

19. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 159.

20. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 160.

21. Coe, “How Debt Became Care,” 290.

22. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 181.

23. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 23.

24. Lovejoy and Falola, “Pawnship in Historical Perspective,” 13–4. Participation in the transatlantic slave trade had domestic repercussions in West Africa. Slavery expanded as an institution and domestic slavery and debt bondage were reconceptualized. They began to be conceived of as commercial arrangements rather than lineage-based intuitions. Originally, pawning, or debt bondage, was used as a means through which to acquire temporary labor. By the nineteenth century, increased interest rates on the initial debt began to transform pawnship into a much more permanent institution. Children were greatly affected by these changes as they could potentially spend their entire lives in bondage rather than a portion of their early life. See Getz, “British Magistrates,” In Child Slaves, Campbell, Miers and Miller, eds. 157–72 and 158–9.

25. Miers, Ending of the Slave Trade, 3–5.

26. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 10.

27. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 10.

28. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 10.

29. Miers, Ending of the Slave Trade, 31.

30. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 12.

31. Miers, Ending of the Slave Trade, 157.

32. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 12.

33. “Correspondence Relating to the Queens's Jurisdiction on the Gold Coast and the Abolition of Slavery Within the Protectorate.” British Parliamentary Papers (hereafter BPP), February 6, 1875, C-1139, C-1140.

34. “Correspondence Relating to the Queens's Jurisdiction on the Gold Coast and the Abolition of Slavery Within the Protectorate.” British Parliamentary Papers (hereafter BPP), February 6, 1875, C-1139, C-1140.

35. “Correspondence Relating to the Queens's Jurisdiction on the Gold Coast and the Abolition of Slavery Within the Protectorate.” British Parliamentary Papers (hereafter BPP), February 6, 1875, C-1139, C-1140.

36. Miers, Ending of the Slave Trade, 158.

37. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 247.

38. Getz and Clarke, Abina, 108.

39. Getz, “British Magistrates,” 162.

40. Getz, “British Magistrates,” 162.

41. Dumett and Johnson, “Suppression of Slavery,” 85.

42. Dumett and Johnson, “Suppression of Slavery,” 85.

43. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 102–4.

44. Getz, “British Magistrates,” 163.

45. Coe, “How Debt Became Care,” 299.

46. Determining what actually constituted slavery was also an issue in colonial Ghana. The views of officials charged with the administration of antislavery laws were shaped by the British experience; in particular the British tradition of the apprenticeship of children. It was common that “children of the working and impoverished classes of both rural and urban Britons carried out numerous domestic and other chores, often playing a vital economic role in maintaining the household economy.” Getz, “British Magistrates,” 160. Complicating this further was the fact that children who may have been slaves in colonial Ghana were presented as “fosters,” a traditional system that Europeans did not understand and fell in a “gray area” that was rarely interfered with by the colonial state. In Britain, policy and lawmakers were not focused on eliminating child labor altogether, but rather on improving the conditions of working children. These imported moral sensibilities and notions about children, childhood, and race afforded slave traders the ability to disguise trafficked children as apprentices and fosters and allowed them to escape prosecution. Getz, “British Magistrates,” 160–1; and Coe, “How Debt Became Care,” 299.

47. Barnett, Empire of Humanity, Chapter 3.

48. Barnett, Empire of Humanity, Chapter 3.

49. The religious ideology of the Basel Mission Society grew out of the churches of southern Germany and Switzerland and included “a strong commitment to missionary evangelism. The Basel organization played visible and important part in the overseas missionary movement that accompanied the economic and cultural expansionism of nineteenth century Europe.” The mission institute operated out of a seminary in Berlin until the Napoleonic Wars when its headquarters was moved to Basel, Switzerland, and subsequently evolved into the Basel Mission Society. However, it remained essentially a German institution and most of its recruits continued to come from Wurttemberg, Germany. Following its migration to Basel, the Mission continued to train its recruits according to the Calvinist and Pietist principles of work, discipline, and orderliness. At the height of western missionary activity, there existed a deeply ingrained belief that sending missionaries abroad was essential. The movement to abolish slavery and the slave trade had created “a sense of shared humanity” and Christian people, particularly evangelical Protestants, felt they had an obligation to spread the message of the gospel to former slaves. Thus, the effort to “civilize” Africans became a fundamental feature of European religious societies. See Miller, Missionary Zeal, 13–4; Quartey, Missionary Practices, 23–4; Barnett, Empire of Humanity, Chapter 3; and Kendall, End of an Era, 5–10.

50. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1871).

51. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1871).

52. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1871).

53. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1871).

54. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

55. Shetty, “Missionary Pedagogy,” 521.

56. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

57. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

58. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1884).

59. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1884).

60. Shetty, “Missionary Pedagogy,” 520.

61. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 253.

62. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 245.

63. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 61.

64. Coe, “How Debt Became Care,” 289.

65. Coe, “How Debt Became Care,” 292.

66. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 18.

67. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 18. In the 1860s, the missionaries began to question whether African members of the congregation should still be permitted to hold slaves. In particular, they were concerned about the implications of African catechists who helped the missionaries in their teaching and preaching duties continuing to own slaves. Following a lengthy debate, it was decided that “all catechists and other employees were forbidden to acquire or continue holding slaves.” Anyone found to be in violation of this decision was to be removed from their position. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 18–20.

68. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 18.

69. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (22 January 1898).

70. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 18.

71. It was not commonplace for missionaries to purchase African slaves as a means through which to grant their freedom. The missionaries believed that this practice simply contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. However, they were not the only mission society to do so. Between 1857 and 1867, the Bremen Mission (also known as the North German Missionary Society) in colonial Ghana purchased 109 slave children. Their stated goal was to give the children a Protestant upbringing and train them as laborers, teachers, interpreters, preachers, and catechists. Greene, West African Narratives, 143.

72. It was not commonplace for missionaries to purchase African slaves as a means through which to grant their freedom. The missionaries believed that this practice simply contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. However, they were not the only mission society to do so. Between 1857 and 1867, the Bremen Mission (also known as the North German Missionary Society) in colonial Ghana purchased 109 slave children. Their stated goal was to give the children a Protestant upbringing and train them as laborers, teachers, interpreters, preachers, and catechists. Greene, West African Narratives, 143.

73. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1893).

74. Haenger, Slaves and Slaveholders, 49; BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1893).

75. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1893).

76. In response to the colonial government's assertion that, by law, these children were able to leave their masters' homes (or mission stations for that matter) whenever they wished, the Aborigines Protection Society stated:

it may be taken for granted that adults understand and are able to assert their rights; but that children sold into bondage, often when they are only four or five years of age, are competent to protect themselves from those who claim to be their owners is an assumption inconsistent with reason and fact. (BPP, May 1891, C-6354)

This is even more pronounced when taking into account the number of children who were being held in slavery far from their homes with no family nearby. In these cases, even if the children were aware that theoretically they were legally able to leave their masters' homes, in reality they may not have even known where they had lived prior to their enslavement, or how to get there. Attempting to actually leave their masters' house and return to their homes would have been a completely overwhelming endeavor and likely would have required the help of an older child or an adult.

77. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1893).

78. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1893).

79. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1893).

80. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 17.

81. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1895).

82. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1895).

83. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1895).

84. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1895).

85. Getz, Slavery and Reform, 61.

86. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1897). There were 26 girls and 65 boys enrolled at this school.

87. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1897).

88. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1897).

89. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1897).

90. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1897).

91. This is evidenced in the quarterly reports from each region in the colony which listed the levels of school attendance, new pupils, religious conversions, illnesses, and deaths of children who attended the schools as well as various tasks children were required to perform in exchange for their education.

92. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1866).

93. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1857).

94. Sill, Encounters, 292.

95. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1866).

96. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1857).

97. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1857).

98. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1857).

99. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1865) and BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1858).

100. BM Series D-12, Reel 130 (1882).

101. Sill, Encounters, 319.

102. Sill, Encounters, 320–1.

103. Sill, Encounters, 321.

104. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1876).

105. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

106. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

107. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

108. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1880).

109. Sill, Encounters, 287.

110. BM Series D-12, Reel 129 (1866).

111. Sill, Encounters, 289.

112. Sill, Encounters, 310.

113. Jenkins, “Everyday Life Encapsulated?” 46–51 and Sill, Encounters, 310.

114. Jenkins, “Everyday Life Encapsulated?” 55.

115. Sill, Encounters, 314.

116. Jenkins, “Everyday Life Encapsulated?” 55.

117. Sill, Encounters, 316.

118. Sill, Encounters, 316.

119. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 9.

120. Miers and Roberts, “The End of Slavery,” 5–6.