About Samuel Johnson (Nigerian historian)
The Rev. Samuel Johnson (; 24 June 1846 – 29 April 1901) was an Anglican priest, diplomat, and historian, as well as the great-grandson of Alaafin Abiodun, a powerful king of the Oyo Empire. He is most notable for his magnum opus The History of the Yorubas, published posthumously in 1921, in which Johnson endeavored to record the oral traditions and history of the Yoruba people, which he feared were fast fading into obscurity. Lost, rewritten, and then narrowly escaping destruction during WWI, his history has since become "the most frequently cited and most influential volume about the Yoruba-speaking people". Besides his historical contributions, Johnson led an active life, variously serving as a minister, teacher, and school superintendent in Ibadan, capital city of the Oyo state in Nigeria. During the Yoruba Wars, he was an emissary involved in negotiations between the British, Ibadan chiefs, and the king of Oyo. == Biography == Samuel Johnson was born a recaptive Creole in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as the third of seven children of Henry Erugunjinmi Johnson and Sarah Johnson on June 24, 1846. His father, who gave himself the Yoruba name Erugunjinmi, was born in 1810 in the town of Oyo-Ile, capital of the Oyo Empire. Henry was an Omoba (prince) of the Oyo clan, and was a grandson of the 18th-century alaafin (king) Abiodun. He was later captured and sold into the Atlantic Slave Trade but was rerouted to Sierra Leone, like many Yorubas, such as Samuel Ajayi Crowther (his distant cousin) and others.
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