Raymond Sarif Easmon (15 January 1913''Africa Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal Ltd, 1981, p. 357. – 2 May 1997) was a prominent

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

an doctor known for his acclaimed literary work and political agitation.

Background and early life

Raymond Sarif Easmon was born on 15 January 1913 in

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, 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, e ...

British Sierra Leone The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crow ...

, to the

Easmon family The Easmon family or the ''Easmon Medical Dynasty'' is a Sierra Leone Creole medical dynasty of African-American descent originally based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Easmon family has ancestral roots in the United States, and in particular Sav ...

, a prominent Creole medical family of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

descent. Easmon's father Albert Whiggs Easmon and uncle,

John Farrell Easmon John Farrell Easmon, MRCS, LM, LKQCP, MD, CMO (30 June 1856 – 9 June 1900), was a prominent Sierra Leonean Creole medical doctor in the British Gold Coast who served as Chief Medical Officer during the 1890s. Easmon was the only West A ...

, had qualified as doctors in the 19th century. Easmon's mother, Hannah Maillat (c. 1890–c. 1950), was a seamstress of

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and Susu descent and Easmon was a sibling of Manto Noah, née Easmon (born 1911), a well-known Sierra Leonean botanist, also Nannette Sudie Easmon who married, Michael Benjamin Jones, Bertha Yvonne Thompson, who married William Conton and Amy Manto Bondfield Hotobah-During (1932–1995), who married Robert Wellesley-Cole. R. Sarif Easmon was educated at Prince of Wales School, Freetown, and subsequently in England at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, where he had a brilliant academic career and won awards in biology and anatomy and qualified as a doctor at the age of 23,Simon Gikandi (ed.)
''Encyclopedia of African Literature''
London: Routledge, 2003, p. 220. and at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

(Diploma in Tropical Medicine). He arrived back in Sierra Leone in 1937.Adell Patton
''Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa''
p. 190.

Political agitation

Easmon became politically active during the regime of President

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial ...

. Easmon criticized the rampant political corruption that occurred during the period and in 1970 was arrested and detained (1970–71) for his opposition to the government.

Writing

Easmon's play ''Dear Parent and Ogre'', first produced by

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

in 1961, won the '' Encounter'' Magazine prize. His second play, ''The New Patriots'' (1965), was performed in several West African countries. In the words of

Simon Gikandi Simon E. Gikandi (born 30 September 1960) is a Kenyan Literature Professor and Postcolonial scholar. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor of English and Chair, Department of English at Princeton University. He is perhaps best known for h ...

: "Easmon's plays are semi-comical commentaries on politics and culture in a community undergoing the birth throes of independence and corruption in the institutions of government." Easmon also wrote a novel called ''The Burnt-Out Marriage'' (1967), as well as short stories that were collected in ''The Feud and Other Stories'' (1981).

Personal life

Dr. Easmon married Esther Campbell, the daughter of William Campbell, a teacher, and the granddaughter of Dr. William Frederick Campbell (1858–1926), a

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 ...

physician. The Easmons had six children.

Published works

* ''Dear Parent and Ogre'' (Oxford University Press, Three Crowns Books, 1964), play * ''The New Patriots: a play in three acts'' (London, 1965), play * ''The Burnt-Out Marriage'' (1967), novel * ''The Feud and Other Stories'' (1981)

Sources

* C. P. Foray and Magbaily Fyle, ''Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone'', 2005. * Adell Patton, ''Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa'', University Press of Florida, 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Easmon, Raymond Sarif Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean writers 1913 births 1997 deaths Raymond Sarif Sierra Leonean people of French descent Sierra Leonean people of African-American descent Alumni of Durham University College of Medicine Sierra Leonean physicians