"His book will not fail to please all who are interested in the mysteries of African Exploration, and the problem of African civilization." - The Living Age, 1861
"He neither rejected Western culture as alien, nor considered assimilation into indigenous cultures practical. Aspects of Western culture that were useful had to be harnessed for the benefit of Africa." -R J M Blackett, Beating Against the Barriers.
It is proper to state that Robert Campbell the author of the 1861 book "A Pilgrimage to my Motherland" was a black man of mixed race, born a British subject in the West Indies. Well educated, and early believing that the Africo-Anglo race could never rise to an equality with the white man while the races dwell together, he determined for himself to seek out, by a personal visit to Africa, that section which, in his best judgment, should promise the highest future for himself and family.
Aided by friends, he departed for England, and there finding further aid took the steam-packet line for the coast of Africa, his ultimate destination being the Yoruba country, which he intended to explore about lat. 5° north. He had for sole travelling companion Dr. Delany, also a colored man. The sheets before us contain the records of his journeys, modestly, but graphically set down.
"'From what part of Africa,'" asked a tribal leader upon meeting Campbell, "'did your grandmother come?' As this was a point on which I possessed no information, I could not give him a satisfactory answer, he remained silent for a short time, and at last said: 'How can I tell but that you are of my own kindred, for many of my ancestors were taken and sold away.' From that day he called me relative, and of course as every other African had as good a claim to kindredship, I soon found myself generally greeted as such."
In commenting on race relations in Africa, Campbell cautions, "The white man who supposes himself respected in Africa, merely because he is white, is grievously mistaken. I have had opportunities to know, that if he should, presuming upon his complexion, disregard propriety in his bearing towards the authorities, he would receive as severe rebuke as a similar offence would bring him in England. One of the chiefs of Abbeokuta, Atambala, was with us one day when a young missionary entered and passed him with only a casual nod of the head. As soon as he was seated the haughty old chief arose and said, in his own tongue: 'Young man, whenever any of my people, even the aged, approaches me, he prostrates himself with his face to the ground. I do not expect the same from you, or from civilized men, nevertheless, remember always that I shall demand all the respect due to a chief of Abbeokuta.'"
His observations included remarks on albino natives: "We met several of those individuals who though entirely of Negro parentage, are white, from the absence of pigmentum or coloring matter from the skin, hair and eyes; both in features and texture of hair, however, they still resemble the Negro."
In his remarks on agricultural techniques, Campbell writes: "The implements of the farmers are only two, a billhook and hoe. The hoe is not bad in itself, but very badly mounted for use by a civilized farmer. The handles are short, rendering it necessary for the operator to stoop in using them. The soil is prepared by heaping the surface-earth in hills, close together and regularly in parallel lines. Cotton, yams, corn, cassava, beans, grow close together in the same field."
About the author:
Robert Campbell (1829 – 1884) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to the daughter of Stephen Wood, an Englishman holding the position of deputy marshall in the city, and a woman of African ancestry.
