Sir Milton Augustus Strieby Margai PC (7 December 1895 – 28 April 1964) was a Sierra Leonean physician and politician who served as the country's head of government from 1954 until his death in 1964.

[3] Margai enjoyed the support of Sierra Leoneans across classes, who respected his moderate style, friendly demeanor, and political savvy.

[4] Milton Augustus Strieby Margai was born on 7 December 1895 in the village of Gbangbatoke, Moyamba District,[5] in the Southern Province of British Sierra Leone to Mende parents.

[7] Margai trained health care workers to instruct female community leaders in the Mende women's religion, the Sande.

[11] The Sande religion served as a facilitation system of practical knowledge about midwifery passed down by generations of women in the region.

[11] In 1948, Margai wrote an article for African Affairs entitled "Welfare Work in a Secret Society," in which he discusses his successes in establishing a series of training camps which taught hygiene and domestic skills to young female Sande initiates.

"[12] Working in concert with local women's groups, Margai helped introduce health and hygiene training into puberty initiation ceremonies.

[13] In 1951, Margai founded the nationalist Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) with Siaka Stevens, which won the 1951 election to the Legislative Council.

[citation needed] Though Margai was pro-British and conservative in his political views, he felt that Sierra Leone would fare better as a self-determined state.

[15] Margai led the Sierra Leonean delegation at the constitutional conferences that were held with British Colonial Secretary Iain Macleod in London in 1960.

However, this did little to lessen poverty in the north, and forced the SLPP to engage in clientelism in order to ease tensions with northern ethnic leaders.

[2] In large part, Margai sought to unite the country and build a sense of national identity while becoming a member of the British Commonwealth.

He also garnered support from local chiefs, who wielded significant social power at the time, because they respected the work he had done to achieve independence for the country.

[19][20][21] As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

[22] Today, Sierra Leoneans regard Sir Milton Margai as a man of honesty and high principle, and look back to his time in office as a period of prosperity and social harmony.