birth_date: 1846-06-24 00:00:00
avg_rating: 3.91
name: Samuel          Johnson
about: The Rev. Samuel Johnson (1846 – 1901) was an Anglican priest and historian of the Yoruba. Johnson taught during the Yoruba civil war. Johnson and Charles Phillips, both of the Church Missionary Society, arranged a ceasefire in 1886 and then a treaty that guaranteed the independence of the Ekiti towns. In 1880, Johnson became a deacon and in 1888 a priest. He was based in Oyo from 1881 onward and completed a work on Yoruba history in 1897. This event is said to have been caused by him fearing that his people were losing their history, and that they were beginning to know European history better. Ironically, this work was misplaced by his British publishers.After his death, his brother Dr. Obadiah Johnson re-compiled and rewrote the book, usi The Rev. Samuel Johnson (1846 – 1901) was an Anglican priest and historian of the Yoruba. Johnson taught during the Yoruba civil war. Johnson and Charles Phillips, both of the Church Missionary Society, arranged a ceasefire in 1886 and then a treaty that guaranteed the independence of the Ekiti towns. In 1880, Johnson became a deacon and in 1888 a priest. He was based in Oyo from 1881 onward and completed a work on Yoruba history in 1897. This event is said to have been caused by him fearing that his people were losing their history, and that they were beginning to know European history better. Ironically, this work was misplaced by his British publishers.After his death, his brother Dr. Obadiah Johnson re-compiled and rewrote the book, using the reverend's copious notes as a guide. In 1921, he released it as A History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. The book has since been likened to The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. ...more
death_date: 1901-04-29 00:00:00