Fatima Massaquoi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Fatima Beendu Sandimanni Massaquoi 25 December 1912 |
| Died | 26 November 1978 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | Liberian |
| Other names | Fatima Massaquoi-Fahnbulleh |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg Lane College Fisk University Boston University |
| Occupation | educator |
| Years active | 1946–72 |
| Notable work | The Autobiography of an African Princess |
Fatima Massaquoi-Fahnbulleh (/ˈmæsækwɑː/; 25 December 1911 – 26 November 1978)[1][2] was a Liberian writer and academic. After completing her education in the United States, she returned to Liberia in 1946, making significant contributions to the cultural and social life of the country.
Born into a family of African royalty, Massaquoi grew up in the care of an aunt in Njagbacca, in the Garwula District of Grand Cape Mount County of southern Liberia. After seven years, she returned to the northwestern part of the country in Montserrado County, where she began her schooling. In 1922 she accompanied her father, a diplomat, to Hamburg, Germany, where she completed her school education and started a course in biology at the University of Hamburg. In 1937 she moved to the United States for further education, studying sociology and anthropology at Lane College, Fisk University and Boston University. While in the US, she collaborated on a dictionary of the Vai language and wrote her autobiography, though a legal battle ensued over the rights to her story. She won an injunction barring others from publishing it, and returned to Liberia in 1946, immediately beginning collaboration to establish a university there, which would become the University of Liberia.
Committed to national cultural preservation and expansion, Massaquoi served as the director, later dean, of the Liberal Arts College and was the founding director of the Institute of African Studies. She co-founded the Society of Liberian Authors, helped abolish the practice of usurping African names for Westernized versions, and worked towards standardization of the Vai script. In the late 1960s, Vivian Seton, Massaquoi's daughter, had the autobiographical manuscript microfilmed for preservation. After Massaquoi's death, her writings and notes were rediscovered, edited and published in 2013 as The Autobiography of an African Princess.
- ^ Smyke 1990, p. 48, gives 25 December 1912 as her birth date, which tallies with the details of her school career he describes. The editors of Massaquoi's autobiography give 1904 as the probable though not certain birth year, which raises questions concerning her school / graduation age.
- ^ Hamburger Matrikelportal. "Immatrikulationsanstrag: Massaquoi, Fatima".