Gladys May Casely-Hayford ''alias'' Aquah Laluah (11 May 1904 – October 1950) was a Gold Coast-born

Sierra Leonean The demographics of Sierra Leone are made up of an indigenous population from 18 ethnic groups. The Temne in the north and the Mende in the south are the largest. About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned to Sierra L ...

writer. She is credited as the first author to write in the

Krio language The Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is the lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, ...

Early life and career

Gladys was born into the Casely-Hayford family of

Axim Axim is a coastal town and the capital of Nzema East Municipal district, a district in Western Region of South Ghana. Axim lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region, west of Cape Three Points. Axim ha ...

, Gold Coast, on 11 May 1904. As a child, known then as Aquah LaLuah, she was a voracious reader, devouring

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

's ''Heroes'' at the age of seven. She could sing, dance, and even write poetry at an early age. Due to her upbringing she could speak fluent English, Creole, and Fante (the language of her father). She had her primary and secondary school education in Gold Coast but for medical reasons was taken to England, and was then educated in Europe, including at Penrhos College,

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

, in Wales, then travelled with a Berlin jazz band as a dancer. She travelled in the US as well. When she started having breakdowns in 1932 she really had to go home. Back home in Africa, she taught at the Girls' Vocational School in

Freetown, Sierra Leone Freetown () is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational an ...

, run by her mother,

Adelaide Casely-Hayford Adelaide Casely-Hayford (née Smith; 2 June 1868 – 24 January 1960), was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, activist of cultural nationalism, teacher, fiction writer, and feminist. Her commitment to public service led her to improving the condit ...

, specializing in African folklore and literature. Crommwell, Adelaide M., ''An African Victorian Feminist: The Life and Times of Adelaide Smith Casely Hayford 1848–1960'' (1992), reprinted Routledge, 2014, p. 141.

Later life and work

Acquah Laluah married Arthur Hunter around 1936, and their son Kobina was born in 1940. Very aware of her African background, she celebrated her blackness in poems including "Rejoice" and "Nativity". Although not much of her poetry was published during her lifetime, many of her poems were anthologized in the 1960s. Poems such as "Nativity" (1927), "The Serving Girl" (1941) and "Creation" (1926), have been widely anthologized; writers from the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

loved her work.See

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Childhood Countee LeRoy Porter ...

, ed., ''

Caroling Dusk ''Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Black Poets of the Twenties: Anthology of Black Verse'' is a 1927 poetry anthology that was edited by Countee Cullen. It has been republished at least three times, in 1955, 1974, and 1995 and included work ...

: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets'', 1927;

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

, ed., ''Poetry of the Negro World'', 1949; ''African Treasury'', 1960; ''Poems from Black Africa'', 1963; Langston Hughes and Christiane Reyngault, eds, ''Anthologie Africaine et Malgache'', 1962;

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

, ed., ''

Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora ...

'', 1992.

Death

Gladys May Casely-Hayford lived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for much of her life. She moved to

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, where her father's family lived, and where she died in 1950 of

blackwater fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

.Crista Martin
"Casely-Hayford, Gladys (1904–1950)"
"Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia", Encyclopedia.com.

Works

*''Take'Um So'', 1948 (poetry)

Notes

External links