Freetown, Sierra Leone and World War II: Assessing the Impact of the War and the Contributions Made

This seminar is a joint initiative of the ASC and the Department of Cultural Anthropology, Leiden University.

Freetown, the capital of the British West-African colony of Sierra Leone, was central to the Allies’ strategy during World War II. It served as a convoy station, with up to 200 cargo and military vessels moving in and out of is well-protected harbour at the height of wartime activities. In 1939, Great Britain introduced a general militarization of the city and the US built installations and stationed officers and troops there.

Freetown’s population doubled in size in less than two years during the war as tens of thousands of men worked on construction sites and the docks or were recruited into military units. African women were affected by the changes too. The authorities used the law, propaganda, cooptation, threats and punishments to gain city dwellers’ consent to war-time demands. Africans made many sacrifices but also went on strike in an attempt to get higher wages and improved living conditions. They protested unfair prices, circumvented controls and challenged racism on the streets and in the barracks.

This case study, using archival and oral records, is part of a project by a group of scholars to assess the impact of global forces on Africa during World War II and to measure Africa’s economic and other contributions to the war. The Freetown study shows that global forces were both realized and buffered through complex processes of coercion, regulation, confrontation, resistance and accommodation.