ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a concise examination of the founding of the colony, when Sierra Leone’s claims to the western doctrine of natural justice first emerged. It analyses the core human rights issues that gave rise to the political and constitutional crisis surrounding taxation and representation between 1820 and 1898. This book explains the impact of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act of 1890 on the rise of racial tensions between the Creoles and the people of the protectorate. It focuses on women’s rights, arguing that the duality of oppression— imperialism and patriarchy–in the colonial spaces of Sierra Leone contributed to burgeoning women’s interest in the struggle for independence: for country and for self. The book examines the human rights-related policy priorities of Sir Milton Margai’s government: agriculture and mining, urbanization and housing; human resource, institutions and infrastructural development, education, and the chieftain institution.
