Adelaide Casely-Hayford MBE (née Smith; 2 June 1868 – 24 January 1960),[1] was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, activist of cultural nationalism, teacher, fiction writer, and feminist.

[2] In 1923, she founded a Girls' Vocational and Training School in Freetown to instil cultural and racial pride for Sierra Leoneans under colonial rule.

In 1925, she attended a reception in honour of the Prince of Wales where she wore an African attire thereby creating a sensation in pursuit of Sierra Leone national identity and cultural heritage.

[2] At Jersey Ladies' College, Casely Hayford and her sisters were the only black students, which taught her the power of kindness, as she wrote, "What did we know of racial prejudice, and an inferiority complex?

"[4] Like many other Sierra Leonean women born into the elite society, she was deeply influenced by Victorian values and ideas of family and gender roles.

Inspired by the ideas of racial pride and co-operation advanced by Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), she joined the Ladies Division of the Freetown Branch.

[citation needed] Upon her return to Freetown, Casely-Hayford embarked on establishing a vocational institution to help girls learn their cultural background and instill national pride.

[2] In a 1922 editorial, she said "Instantly, my eyes were opened to the fact that the education meted out to [African People] had ... taught us to despise ourselves... Our immediate need was an education which would instill to us a love of country, pride of race, an enthusiasm for the black man's capabilities, and a genuine admiration for Africa's wonderful art work,"[7] and that she "was looking forward ... to a new day, in which African shall be allowed to expand and develop, along with her own ideas and ideals.