"Whose Empire Day were the school children of Sierra Leone in the 1930s celebrating as they tipped their straw boaters to the Union Jack and singing 'Flag of our Empire waving there above'? These were the same children educated in British church schools who were to lead the liberation from Empire. Eldred Durosimi Jones was born in 1925 and this memoir gives a vivid picture of growing up in Freetown in the latter days of British colonial rule. He was an exceptional young man who was able to take advantage of the unusual style of this city-state. Known internationally as being central to the establishment of the study of African writing, African Literature Today of which he was founding editor in 1968, is a key marker of this growth. In addition, his book Othello's Countrymen introduced Africa into Shakespeare studies."--P[4] of cover.