James Kwegyir Aggrey

James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey was born on October 18, 1875, in Anomabu, Central Region. In 1898, he travelled to the United States to study at Livingstone College and Columbia University, earning degrees in theology and sociology and becoming a professor in North Carolina.

Selected to serve on the prestigious Phelps-Stokes Education Commissions to Africa in 1920 and 1924, Aggrey travelled across West, Central, and Southern Africa evaluating African schooling. In 1924, he returned to the Gold Coast to co-found Achimota School alongside Governor Gordon Guggisberg and Alec Fraser. Aggrey famously declared: 'You can play a tune on the black keys alone; you can play a tune on the white keys alone; but for perfect harmony, you must play both the black and the white keys together.'