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Don’t think I can talk about my second stint living in Lagos without talking about Dan Foster. May not seem that important today but he was unquestionably a top dog and trailblazer back then. A terrible loss
Unlike many White Europeans or Americans, there have been relatively few black Americans who have moved to Nigeria and captured the imagination of Nigerians in the process. In the last couple of decades, perhaps Dan Foster and Walter Carrington are the only examples
But this gives me an excuse to share the store of Robert Campbell who we came across while researching Formation. Didn't make it into the book but it's an interesting one nonetheless with some parallels with Dan Foster's
Campbell was born in Jamaica to a Scottish father and a mixed race mother. Jamaica in those days did not hold out many prospects so his family moved to Central America, which turned out to be worse, and then finally to America's East Coast in search of opportunities
Still, it was not easy for him. By American standards he was black and so finding jobs in the 1850s was difficult. It was at this point that there was a ferment among Black Americans to move back to Africa. Campbell got involved with one such group planning a test voyage
In 1859, they sailed to Abeokuta to explore the idea of setting up there. Abeokuta wasn't so easy for an outsider to break into back then as there were already Europeans, Saros and of course the locals all living there. Campbell and co left with a plan to return later
In 1862, he took his wife and 4 kids and a cotton gin and headed for Abeokuta. He got to Lagos and could no longer proceed to Abeokuta due to a change in the political atmosphere (this one is in Formation, so buy the book). So he decided to 'wait' in Lagos
While in Lagos, he set up the first English language newspaper titled Anglo-African in June 1863 (he was restless and he couldn't use his cotton gin in Lagos). The paper had 4 pages and appeared weekly. Its pages were divided into 3 columns - every other newspaper copied this
The British authorities, from experience, were worried that a black owned newspaper would foment trouble in the local population. They first thought about banning or taxing the paper before deciding a better idea was to be its biggest advertiser instead
But Campbell was very independent minded and even though they were effectively his sponsors, he regularly attacked them anyway. The paper also sought out local poets and published their poems. Foreign stories were also published regularly
But Lagos was not easy back then and due to a lack of sales, Anglo-African stopped publishing in 1865 (Between 1867 and 1880, no newspaper was published anywhere in what we know as Nigeria today). But the restless Campbell was undeterred
In 1866, he and some Saros founded the Lagos Academy to promote literature, arts and science. It died a few years later but in 1879 he was again one of the founders of the Lagos Mutual Improvement and the Lagos Scientific societies to promote the same goals of inquiry and science
He was also 'into' business. In 1860s he developed Colza Oil which was used to light lamps, make soap and a whole bunch of other things. Bricks were also becoming popular for house building after several fires which damaged Lagos. So he invested in a brick making business, too
Later in the early 1880s, he started a drinks business called Africana Canna. The quality was so good that the colonial surgeon even recommended it saying that if people had to drink anything, they might as well drink Campbell's instead of the many other dodgy drinks on sale
But his most enduring legacy came from his appointment as Acting Colonial Surveyor in the 1870s (he was appointed 4 times). He was asked to survey where Lagos could expand to and design a layout for Lagosians to buy land and build there. His report recommended Ebute-Metta
His brick making business was already based in Ebute-Metta so it logically followed for him to recommend the place. With that, he left a permanent mark on Lagos. He died in January 1884 at the age of 55.
His story was the first to come to mind when I heard of Foster's death - the foreigner who comes to your country and causes you, the local, to look at it again because you can't seem to understand why they seem to like the place so much
Campbell was expecting many other Black Americans to join him but the outbreak of the American Civil War stopped that from happening. It would have been logical for him to head back to the US but somehow he stayed in Lagos till his death
I always thought Dan Foster was only around for a short period and would eventually leave when he got bored. But in the end, I left him there.
Here's to those who go to a difficult place like Nigeria and have a heart big enough to genuinely fall in love with the place.
Here's to those who go to a difficult place like Nigeria and have a heart big enough to genuinely fall in love with the place.
