African Missionaries

Rev. C. C. Reindorf belonged to a class of mulatto families in the Ga capital of Accra that had played a significant role in Ga society and economy as merchant-princes. The decline of their economic position over the nineteenth century pushed several mulattoes into the employ of the Basel Mission as teachers and catechists. Reindorf, a missionary and a historian, was the author of the first rigorous study of Ghana entitled The History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti (Basel, 1895). An edited volume on a conference celebrating the centenary of Reindorf's book has been published under the auspices of the Basel Mission Society. Paul Jenkins, ed., The Recovery of the West African Past: African Pastors and African History in the Nineteenth Century (Basel, 1998).
D-30.03.030 shows the retired Rev. Reindorf (in suit and clerical collar) and his wife at his 80th birthday celebration.