The pastor at Ọ̀yọ́ who wrote the book that made Yoruba history, the manuscript's loss and reconstruction, and the generation of Lagos men who first wrote Yoruba people into the record themselves.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Kpatakpata wetin ordinary pesin know about Yoruba history before 1900 pass through one or two places come reach dem from Samuel Johnson book, The History of the Yorubas. Na one CMS pastor for Ọ̀yọ́ write am, finish am for 1897, di publisher con lose am, im brother con use im notes take write am again, e nearly lost again during di First World War, before dem finally publish am for 1921, twenty years after di author die. Na dis book people dey cite pass about Yoruba, na proper academic work wey stand on interview wey dem arrange well, and na account of Ọ̀yọ́ supporter wey one Christian pastor write, pesin wey even be agent for di last war wey e describe. Person must look all dis things together.
No be only im do am. One set of Lagos and Abẹ́òkúta men write Yoruba history around dat same time, inside English and inside Yoruba, for inside books, newspapers, and almanacs, so Johnson na person wey survive from one full movement, no be say na only im stand alone.
Dem born am for Freetown, Sierra Leone, for 1846, inside liberated African family wey come from Ọ̀yọ́ line . Im great-grandfather na Aláàfin Abíọ́dún, and na important fact to note: di historian of di Ọ̀yọ́ empire na direct descendant of di last Aláàfin wey rule di whole empire complete, and e dey write about how im own family fall.
Di family come back to Yorubaland, and e go school for Ìbàdàn under CMS missionary David Hinderer, inside di mission house wey also produce di eyewitness accounts of di Ìjàyè war. E enter ministry and dem post am go Ọ̀yọ́, where e spend im working life as pastor.
Im other work na diplomacy. For 1886, Governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney of Lagos appoint am, together with Reverend Charles Phillips, as envoy make dem negotiate peace for di Kiriji war [S2]. Dis mean say e be agent wey dey work for British colonial administration for how dem settle di war wey dey di last part of im book, and na Ọ̀yọ́ man wey dey stand for middle between Ìbàdàn and di eastern kingdoms. Na dis particular thing be di most important thing make person know about im account of di nineteenth century.
E die for Lagos for 1901.
E talk im reason plain-plain, and na di sentence wey make sense pass to quote from am:
make di history of our fatherland no go lost kpata-kpata, especially as our old elders dey quick die finish.
Dat one na intention to rescue history, and e describe im method well. Di people wey give am information na di arọ̀kin, di professional palace historians of Ọ̀yọ́, and di elders of di towns wey e fit reach, and e dey record knowledge wey dem pass down wey di custodians dey die without people wey sabi book to take over. E also be argument about who Yoruba people be. E write "our fatherland" for readers wey, for 1897, mostly know demselves as Ọ̀yọ́, Ẹ̀gbá, Ìjẹ̀bú or Ekiti instead of Yoruba. Di book help create di category wey e claim say e dey describe [S3].
E finish am for 1897 and send am go CMS headquarters for London, where di publisher lose am without trace . E no ever see am again and e die four years later.
Im brother, Dr Obadiah Johnson, wey be medical doctor for Lagos, reconstruct di book from Samuel notes and diaries and from wetin Samuel bin tell am . Dat reconstruction sef nearly lost: during di First World War, di second manuscript dey inside di ship Appam when German warship capture am, and e con end up for America . Dem finally publish am for London for 1921.
Di reader need to know wetin dis mean for real life. Di text wey dem publish no be di exact manuscript wey Samuel Johnson write. Na im brother reconstruction, and person no fit separate Samuel words from Obadiah own inside di printed book. Obadiah na Lagos-educated professional man for di 1900s and 1910s wey dey work on material wey dem gather for 1880s and 1890s, and di ideas and thinking of dat later time dey inside di text without any mark to show dem.
E start from di origin traditions pass through di Ọ̀yọ́ dynastic list, di empire, di revolution and collapse, di nineteenth-century wars, and how British people take enter, and e get long sections on language, tradition, law, government, marriage, burial, and religion wey be ethnography instead of just storytelling. Di comparison wey people dey sometimes make with Gibbon dey about di size and ambition instead of method, and e make sense .
Di limitations wey e get dey specific, and e better make dem state dem clear like dat instead of just general warning.
E be Ọ̀yọ́-centric. Di framework na di rise, fall, and legitimacy of di Ọ̀yọ́ empire, and other Yoruba societies appear mostly based on how dem relate with am. Ìjẹ̀bú, Ekiti, and Ìjẹ̀ṣà traditions for their own terms no plenty at all.
Na Christian pastor book about non-Christian religion. How Johnson treat òrìṣà worship no show sympathy at all, and many times e dey explain Yoruba traditions say na corrupted versions of wetin dey Bible. Im comment on di Mọ̀remí narrative, say person fit see confused idea of di story of Jephthah and di Blessed Virgin and her Son wey dem spoil, na di clearest example and dem quote am for di Mọ̀remí file of dis section. Dat diffusionist assumption na normal thing inside mission scholarship and e wrong; but e no mean say all di narratives wey e write down na lie.
Na person wey participate for di last events wey e describe, as dem don explain for up.
Im chronology na reconstruction. Di work wey Robin Law do on di Ọ̀yọ́ chronology show say dates wey come from reign-length calculation, including Johnson own, no strong and person no fit rely on dem di way people dey do .
Di academic books and papers wey dey evaluate am plenty well-well now. Di article "How Truly Traditional Is Our Traditional History? The Case of Samuel Johnson and the Recording of Yoruba Oral Tradition" na di main work wey treat di methodology question, and di volume wey Toyin Falola edit wey dem call Yoruba Historiography gather all di evaluations together .
All dat one no mean say make person throway di book. E keep oral tradition wey no dey exist again for any oda form, from people wey don die tey-tey, and anywhere wey person fit compare wetin e talk with oda independent evidence, many times na true e dey talk. Na primary source wey person must read as source, just as e suppose be for any history text wey get value.
Dem born am for 1839 for Kissy village, Sierra Leone, to papa wey come from royal house for Ìjẹ̀bú-Ode . E be Chief Registrar for di Supreme Court of Lagos and e work as registrar for Police Court, Chief Magistrate's Court, Court of Civil and Criminal Justice, and Petty Debt Court.
E dey publish West African and Lagos Almanack every year from di 1870s, wey carry history notes join di directory and calendar tins, and for 1893 e publish Table of Principal Events in Yoruba History, with Certain Other Matters of General Interest, wey e gather mainly make dem dey use am for courts for Colony of Lagos .
Di main reason wey make am do am na di interesting part. Payne dey arrange date-by-date reference make colonial court wey dey judge Yoruba mata fit get correct dates to work with. Na history wey dem write like legal tool be dat, and e bring out different kind book from Johnson own: e get date, e straight to di point, e arrange by region, and e useful well-well. Both e almanac-dem and di Table don dey digital form and open to everybody .
Person wey dem no know kill am for e house for Lagos for 1906, and dem no fit solve di case till today.
I. B. Akinyẹle, wey e Ìwé Ìtàn Ìbàdàn come out for 1911, write di Ìbàdàn history for Yoruba language, and na di main book wey balance wetin Johnson write from Ọ̀yọ́ side for di nineteenth century. Kẹmi Morgan later expand am into three-volume English work .
A. K. Ajisafe, wey e Ìwé Ìtàn Abẹ́òkúta do di same tin for di Ẹ̀gbá .
John Payne Jackson, editor for Lagos Weekly Record, and di Lagos newspaper-dem generally. Di newspapers from 1880s and 1890s dey carry history and political debate back-to-back, and dem be archive for dis period wey people never use well.
Di pattern across all of dem na di same tin and e make sense to point am out. Dis na men wey mission school train, majority of dem na Saro or pikin of Saro, wey use di education wey mission give dem take write deir own people into record wey na only Europeans bin dey write before. Na dat reason make di first Yoruba history book-dem na Christian, e get English influence, and na clergymen plenty time dey write am, and na also why di books even exist at all.
Wetin dis whole work dey say na say make person read dis generation di way dem dey read any founding history work: as sometin wey person must use, as sometin wey carry personal side, and as evidence about di time wey dem write am and also di time wey e dey talk about.
Captured as a boy at Òṣogun and sold three times in a day, he became the first African Anglican bishop, wrote the first serious Yoruba grammar and dictionary, translated the Bible into Yoruba, and was broken at the end of his life by younger European missionaries.
James "Holy" Johnson, Mọjọlá Agbébí and the generation of Sierra Leonean returnee clergy who took mission Christianity, found it would not admit them to leadership, and built African churches instead.
The rulers of Ọ̀yọ́ from the height of the empire to its collapse and refounding, including Bàṣọ̀run Gàhá who ruled through them, the curse of Aláàfin Awólẹ̀, and the move to New Ọ̀yọ́ under Àtìbà.
The kinds of evidence historians use to reconstruct the Yoruba past, what each kind can and cannot prove, and how one 1921 book shaped everything written since.
The Yorùbá press, D. O. Fágúnwà and the Yorùbá novel, Tutuola's contested place, the travelling theatre, Yorùbá film, and where the language stands in education and online.
The life, diplomatic mediation, and historiographical legacy of the Anglican clergyman whose posthumously published 1921 masterwork established the foundation of modern Yoruba historical writing.