Early Career
Booth first came to Africa in 1892 along with his wife and daughters, and established the Zambezi Industrial Mission at Mitsidi, close to Blantyre and the Nyasa Industrial Mission. He recruited locals to plant coffee, and within a year had over 30,000 acres (120 km²) being worked. This was part of his desire to have Africa be for the native Africans instead of Europeans, a view unpopular with colonial authorities and most missionaries of the time.
He made a trip to Britain and the United States in 1897, taking along household employee John Chilembwe. Chilembwe stayed in Virginia to study, while Booth returned in 1899 and established a new mission to the south of Blantyre. Booth continued his pro-African efforts, proposing that the colony revert to local control in 20 years, and that at least five percent of the natives should receive higher education. These views did not go over well with the colonial administration, and commissioner Alfred Sharpe threatened to deport Booth for his "seditious remarks".
After an unrelated dispute with his coreligionists, Booth went to South Africa in 1902. In 1907 he was officially barred from returning to the Blantyre colony.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Booth (missionary)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)