This book is worth a burst of kora and drums in celebration: it is the first scholarly discussion of the prominent Gambian patriot and nationalist leader Reverend John Colley Faye (1908–86). Despite his leading role in the pre-independence politics of the smallest, oldest and most loyal British possession in West Africa, Faye has been somewhat ignored by scholars both outside and within the Gambia. As there is little historical writing about the Gambia even by local scholars, an attempt like this should not go unnoticed or uncelebrated. And finally, unlike their colleagues in former British West African colonies, Gambian political leaders have the dubious distinction of reticence: the only Gambian notable to ever have written a memoir is Sir Dawda Jawara (born 1924), who led the country from 1962 to 1994, and even this memoir was published only in 2011.
The author explains in the preface that the biography is the result of a promise Senghor made when he consulted Faye for his research on Senegambian integration in the 1970s (p. xxv). Yet the book is not a hagiography. Senghor offers a fair discussion of Faye's achievements and weaknesses and points out several instances where Faye's human failings were obvious, including his ‘impolitic comportment’ as the Gambian representative in London (p. 225) and his financial woes in the late 1950s (p. 137).
The book consists of twelve chapters; the first two cover Faye's early life and career as a founder-teacher and master of the school in Kristi-Kunda (Christ's village), a remote Gambian village that was part of a brave but largely unsuccessful plan by Anglican Bishop John Daley to Christianize the Upper River regions of the Gambia still largely untouched by Islam at that time. But thanks to Faye's ability to establish local relations of trust and respect, the school of Kristi-Kunda became so successful that it attracted boys and girls from all over the country and beyond: it produced a Gambian vice president, many cabinet ministers and scholars including Senghor himself. As Faye was also a founder of the Gambia Teachers’ Union in 1938, these chapters also give a good overview of the history of education in the Gambia.
In Chapters 3 to 8, the author explains Faye's career in nationalist politics. In 1947, Faye was appointed to the enlarged Gambian Legislative Council to represent the Upper River region because ‘the local authorities met under their chiefs and agreed on Faye as the only person whom they trusted to represent them’ (p. 63). In 1951, Faye founded the Gambia's first political party, the Gambia Democratic Party (p. 76), initiating the struggle for independence. His personal battles against successive British governors, such as Sir Percy Wyn-Harris in the late 1950s, and his appointment as the first Gambian cabinet minister in 1954 illustrate the decisive moments in the struggle against colonial rule, which started much later in the Gambia than in neighbouring countries such as Senegal, Ghana or Nigeria. If the period 1947–60 constituted the golden years of Faye in politics, the subsequent years were the most difficult of his political life as he faced challenges from men he had groomed in the classroom and the political arena, including I. M. Garba Jahumpa, whose breakaway Gambia Muslim Congress Party eroded Faye's political support in Bathurst. Eventually Dawda Jawara's People's Progressive Party (PPP) won the 1962 elections and independence for the Gambia in 1965. Apart from a brief stint as Gambia's first High Commissioner to London in 1963–64, Faye faded from the political field before the achievement of Gambian independence on 18 February 1965.
The last three chapters of the book focus on Faye's church work. As his political career was ended by forces he failed to anticipate, he spent the last two decades of his life as deacon of the Anglican Church in the Gambia. The author makes it clear that even in this capacity, Faye's challenges were legion as he had to minister in a predominantly Muslim country. Again, the author contextualizes Faye's life and work through a discussion of the pressures that affected the small Christian community of the Gambia.
The author should be commended for his highly relevant conclusion in Chapter 12, where he draws on Faye's career to reflect on the broader questions of leadership in Africa. In a continent where leaders’ shortcomings have usually been blamed for its underdevelopment and violence since the 1960s, Senghor sets out his subject's ability to serve as a role model for Gambian and African leaders through his readiness to make sacrifices, and to act professionally and broadmindedly.
It unfortunate that the book was not taken on by an academic publisher that would have insisted on careful copyediting; as a result, the book suffers from typographical errors including the misspellings of common Gambian names such as N'jie (p. 349) and Jawara (p. 348). However, these shortcomings do not reduce the book's significance as a major work of reference on Faye and Gambian social and political history. The book also highlights the importance of full-length biographies for other Ghanaian nationalists such as Edward Francis Small, Pierre Sarr N'jie and I. M. Garba-Jahumpa, and challenges scholars, and especially Gambian historians, to explore and reflect on the lives and careers of the men and women who have shaped the history of the country.
