Festus Cole

Born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Festus Cole was educated at Fourah Bay College (University of Sierra Leone), where he obtained a BA (Hons) in History, an MA in History, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), from where he graduated with a PhD in African History.

With a specialty on Africa and World War I, his teaching experience spans three continents: Africa, the United Kingdom, and the US. Dr. Cole has taught African History, Imperialism in Africa, Global History, World History, World Civilizations, Twentieth Century European History, Western Civilization, US History, African American History, and Social Anthropology, at Fourah Bay College (University of Sierra Leone), The School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), Birkbeck College (University of London), The Ohio State University, The State University of New York, North Carolina Wesleyan College, Luther College (Iowa), and, more recently, at Bowie State University (Maryland).  

Dr. Cole’s research interests are diverse and are of an interdisciplinary nature. These span the history of Africa and World War I, Imperialism in Africa, Problems of nation-building in contemporary Africa, the history of the Levantines in West Africa, the history of disease and medicine in colonial Africa, and nineteenth and twentieth century Anglo-Krio relations. Among his recent publications in peer reviewed journals, are: “Sanitation, Disease and Public Health in Sierra Leone, West Africa, 1895-1922: Case Failure of British Colonial Health Policy.” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History; “Defining the ‘flesh’ of the Black soldier in Colonial Sierra Leone: Background to the Gunners’ Mutiny of 1939.” Canadian Journal of African Studies, and “In Defence of King and Country: Empire Loyalism, Sierra Leone and World War I.” Research in Sierra Leone Studies (RISLS): Weave. He has recently completed another manuscript titled, “Great Britain, Germany and the United States in West Africa: The quest for commercial dominance, 1895-1925.”