Seven Things You Should Know About Samuel Ajayi Crowther

 Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a linguist. He translated the Bible into the Yoruba Language and was instrumental in the translation of the Bible into the Igbo Language. Here are some other things to know about this religious icon:

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther and his entire village were captured by Muslim Fulani slave traders and sold to Portuguese slave merchants when he was 12 years old. 

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther was released in Freetown, Sierra Leone; while there he was cared for by the Christian Missionary Society. He converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1825 by John Raban. 

• He assisted John Raban and  Hannah Kilham in their studies of African languages, and in 1841 he joined J.F. Schön as a CMS representative on T.F. Buxton‘s Niger Expedition.

• He oversaw J.C. Taylor’s ground-breaking work in Eastern Nigeria and directed the evangelization of the Niger Delta 

• In 1843, Samuel Ajayi Crowther published Yoruba Vocabulary, the first linguistic work by an African native speaker and began translating the Book of Common Prayer. 

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther was consecrated Bishop of the Niger in Canterbury Cathedral, and was awarded an honorary divinity doctorate by University of Oxford. 

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther died of Stroke in 1891.

About the author: Roman Ajiboye is a freelance writer who loves books, social media and the web. His articles have appeared on thescoopng.com and BlossomNnodim.com. He writes opinion pieces via medium.com/@HammedAjiboye, personal essays on his blog, strictlyroman.wordpress.com and tweets via @HammedAjiboye