I OFTEN SHED MY TEARS ABOUT THIS

in the public sphere. The second approach, which appears to have been the norm, however
limited in practice, especially from the 1920s, was the colonial policy of apprenticing former
slave children to the Christian missions.4' In a unique case the colonial government granted
sums of money to the Roman Catholic Mission at Cape Coast for the upkeep of an appren-
ticed former slave girl, but it is doubtful whether the colonial state did so for all the liberated
slaves apprenticed to the Christian missions.42 The evidence shows that the Christian mis-
sions had to depend on their own resources, at times woefilly inadequate, to cater to the
needs of apprentices. Notwithstanding a well-documented case that will be discussed below,
the evidence suggests that the colonial policy of apprenticing former slaves to the Christian
missions was selective and ad hoc in nature, or at best evanescent without fruitful results.
The apprenticeship policy stipulated that only children under sixteen years of age were
apprenticeable, and at least in 1908 this age limit was enforced.43 In that year, Mr. H. Bryan,
the Colonial Secretary, directed Mr. E.C. Elliot, the Commissioner of the Central Province,
as follows:
I have the honour to draw your attention to sections 19 and 20 of Ordinance No.
8 of 1893 and to request that as the girl appears to be 16 years you will inform me
under what arrangement she has been apprenticed. How did the girl come to be in
the possession of Superintendent Simmons?44
It is not clear in the records whether the age limit of sixteen years old was rigorously
enforced in the early twentieth century. Even if it was, given the uncertain origins and fa-
milial backgrounds of former slaves it would have been undoubtedly difficult to determine
every exact age. The evidence illustrates that most of former slaves in apprenticeship in the
Gold Coast were females and it is likely that the majority had originated from the Salaga
slave trade.45 Although such former slaves had been given "southern" Akan, Guan, and Ga-
Adangbe names, they were still collectively referred to as "Wangara," an ethno-geographical
designation laden with derogatory connotations synonymous with the "Northern" regional
backwater, specifically, the slave trading axis of Salaga.46 Some of the liberated slaves were
also from the immediate interior or protectorate states.47 For instance, in 1880, Acting
Inspector General, Mr. Cecil Dudley, "captured King Akwasi Baidoo [of Denkyira in the
interior] and the principal offenders" for slave-holding and jailed them in the Elmina castle
prison. Consequently, the "released slaves[,] ... mostly women and young children," were
placed under the care of the "Authorities at Elmina pending the trial" of the king and his
chiefs.48
As noted there is a paucity of evidence regarding the actual number of apprenticed
former slave children. However, one of the recorded lists show that between 1908 and 1913
fourteen liberated slave children were apprenticed to the elite of the colonial society, both
African and European in the Cape Coast District.49 Undoubtedly the true figure may be
higher: among other things, records were not properly kept, especially between 1902 and
1905.50 In 1910, the returns submitted by District Commissioners for some parts of the

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