page_title: Léon M'ba
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Léon M'ba / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Fang Christians. In the middle of the front row stands Amvama. Behind him, on his right, is Ndong Koni. The tall young man is Robert Boardmen, the blind catechist. From The fetish folk of West Africa (published [c1912] ).
context_page_description: Gabriel Léon M'ba was a Gabonese politician who served as both the first Prime Minister and President of Gabon.
  A member of the Fang ethnic group, M'ba was born into a relatively privileged village family. After studying at a seminary, he held a number of small jobs before entering the colonial administration as a customs agent. His political activism in favor of black people worried the French administration, and as a punishment for his activities, he was issued a prison sentence after committing a minor crime that normally would have resulted in a small fine. In 1924, the administration gave M'ba a second chance and selected him to head the canton in Estuaire Province. After being accused of complicity in the murder of a woman near Libreville, he was sentenced in 1931 to three years in prison and 10 years in exile. While in exile in Oubangui-Chari, he published works documenting the tribal customary law of the Fang people. He was employed by local administrators, and received praise from his superiors for his work. He remained a persona non grata to Gabon until the French colonial administration finally allowed M'ba to return his native country in 1946.
context_section_description: A member of the Fang ethnic tribe, M'ba was born on 9 February 1902 in Libreville, Gabon. His father, a small business manager and village chief, once worked as the hairdresser to Franco-Italian explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. His mother, Louise Bendome, was a seamstress. Both were educated and were among the first "evolved couples" in Libreville. M'ba's brother also played an important role in the colonial hierarchy; he was Gabon's first Roman Catholic priest.
  In 1909, M'ba joined a seminary to receive his primary education. From 1920, he was employed as a store manager, a lumberjack and trader before entering the French colonial administration as a customs agent. Despite his good job performance, M'ba's activism in helping black Gabonians, particularly for the Fangs, worried his superiors. In September 1922, M'ba wrote to Edmond Cadier, Lieutenant-Governor of Gabon:
  "If on the one hand, the fundamental duty of educating the Fangs is consistent with Gabon's evident economic, military, and even political interests, on the other side, growing in human dignity and the increase of their material well-being do stay, Mr. Governor, the first legitimization of the French authority on them."
  His remarks upset authorities, and he suffered the consequences in December 1922, when he was sentenced to prison after having committed a minor crime of providing a colleague with falsified documents.
caption: Fangs in a Christian mission, c. 1912
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