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| Title: | The brothers Easmon: the emergence of a Nova Scotian medical dynasty in Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast |
| Author: | Browne-Davies, Nigel |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Periodical: | Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (ISSN 0855-191X) |
| Volume: | 16 |
| Pages: | 45-109 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Sierra Leone Ghana |
| Subjects: | doctors elite social history 1850-1899 |
| About persons: | John Farrell Easmon Albert Whiggs Easmon |
| Abstract: | Professional dynasties emerged in British West Africa in the mid to late nineteenth century. The Easmon family of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast (Ghana) is perhaps the most notable West African family in the medical field. The family descended from Nova Scotian settlers, free and formerly enslaved African Americans who had escaped to the British lines during the American Revolutionary War and had come to Sierra Leone in 1792. The Easmon family produced two medical doctors in the nineteenth century, Dr John Farrell Easmon and his half-brother Dr Albert Whiggs Easmon, who initially practiced together in the Gold Coast. Albert Whiggs Easmon later moved to Sierra Leone, where he was a medical doctor for nearly twenty years. This article focuses on the activities of the Easmon brothers and their social relations. The process through which the brothers were able to qualify as medical practitioners is illustrative of the upward mobility of certain African families, a process initiated by Africans, and without the assistance or interference of imperial or colonial authorities. The Easmon family was one of a small number of Settler families to transition from the decaying Settler 'aristocracy' and to secure a place within the new Creole elite. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
