Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Two Historical Manuscripts from the Kru Coast |
Author: | Davis, Ronald W. |
Year: | 1968 |
Periodical: | Liberian Studies Journal |
Volume: | 1 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | Fall |
Pages: | 42-55 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Liberia |
Subjects: | Kru oral history History and Exploration |
Abstract: | Of several attempts local individuals to preserve oral traditions through written records, two of the most interesting examples are short manuscripts from Sasstown dealing with the founding and early history of the settlement. They are surprisingly accurate sketches of the migrations and settlements of the Jlac, the principal ethnic group now inhabiting Sasstown. The two manuscripts are reproduced here: A. is the work of one Patrick Satia, a clerk in the Sasstown municipal administration; B. was written by Alphonsus Sidewa Doh, formerly a student at the Roman Catholic junior high school in Sasstown and studying since 1967 at the mission's senior high school in Harper. Many names and places mentioned in the manuscripts are still of unknown nature, but the greater parts of both pieces are significant not only for revelations of Jlao history, but also for corroboration of oral testimony in neighbouring towns. The material seems substantially authentic when subjected to evidence from fragmentary European accounts of the Kru Coast. Notes, map. |