ABSTRACT
In British West Africa the colonial authorities were more liberal, and Africans did and could voice protest against their colonial governments. A very large proportion of the members of the Gold Coast section of the National Congress of British West Africa was connected with the traditional ruling élite. The 1900 Pan African Congress, as far as the composition of its delegates was concerned, reflected the essentially extra-African inspiration of the movement. As a milestone in the political history of English-speaking West Africa the National Congress of British West Africa, which held its first meeting in 1920 at Accra, was of equal significance to the 1914 Senegal election to French West Africa. The National Congress of British West Africa was essentially the creation of the educated Africans of the West Coast towns. Growing demands for participation in the colonial government and increasing discontent with the colonial economic regime found its earliest outlet in the National Congress of British West Africa.
