Asenath Barageen

A Gambian educator who pioneered women's education in West Africa

Asenath Barageen (1905-1988) was a Gambian educator and women's rights advocate who created the first girls' school in the Gambia. Born in a rural village, she walked over 200 miles to attend missionary school in Senegal, later becoming one of the first Gambian women to earn a teaching certification. In 1948 she established the Saint Helena Girls' School, which became a model for girls' education across the region.

Barageen's innovative methods included teaching practical skills alongside academics, and she developed a bilingual curriculum in Mandinka and English. Her advocacy led to the first female enrollment in the Gambia's teacher training college. Despite facing resistance from traditional leaders, she established over 30 literacy centers by the 1960s. The Gambian Ministry of Education later honored her by naming a national scholarship after her.

Her legacy is preserved through the Asenath Barageen Foundation, which continues her work in girls' education. Her story reflects the challenges and triumphs of early African feminists who combined Western education with local cultural values. Historians note her influence on later leaders like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, showing the transnational impact of her educational reforms.