Adelaide Casely-Hayford
| Adelaide Casely-Hayford | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 June 1868 Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| Died | 16 January 1960 (aged 91) Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| Nationality | Sierra Leonean |
| Profession | activist, educator, writer |
| Religion | Christian |
Adelaide Casely-Hayford, née Smith (27 June 1868—16 January 1960), was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, an activist for cultural nationalism, educator, short story writer, and feminist. She established a school for girls in 1923 to instil cultural and racial pride during the colonial years under British rule. Promoting the preservation of Sierra Leone national identity and cultural heritage, in 1925 she wore a traditional African costume to attend a reception in honour of the Prince of Wales, where she created a sensation.
Adelaide Smith was born on 27 June 1868 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to a mixed-race father (William Smith Jr, of English and royal Fanti parentage) from the Gold Coast and a Creole mother, Anne Spilsbury, of English, Jamaican Maroon, and Sierra Leone Liberated African ancestry. Adelaide was the second youngest of her parents' seven children. She and her sisters grew up mostly in England, where her father had retired in 1872 with his family on a pension of 666 pounds sterling. She attended Jersey Ladies' College (now Jersey College for Girls).
At the age of 17, Smith went to Stuttgart, Germany, to study music at the Stuttgart Conservatory. She returned to England, where, together with a sister, she opened a boarding home for African bachelors who were living in the country as students or workers.
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