Efua T. Sutherland

Efua Theodora Sutherland (née Morgue) was born in Cape Coast in present-day Ghana (formerly known as Gold Coast). After moving to England to study at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), she returned to Ghana in 1951. Three years later, she married Bill Sutherland, an African-American civil rights activist who had moved to Ghana in 1953. The couple went on to have three children, Esi Sutherland-Addy (who is a prominent writer and human rights activist), Ralph Sutherland, and Amowi Sutherland Phillips. Sutherland died in Accra at the age of 71 in 1996.

Key Dates & Events

• 1951 - Sutherland moves back to Ghana after studying in England.
• 1954 - Sutherland marries African-American civil rights activist, Bill Sutherland.
• 1957 - Ghana gains its independence.
• 1957 - Sutherland establishes the Ghana Society of Writers (later known as the Ghana Association of Writers).
• 1958 - Sutherland Sutherland founds the Ghana Experimental Theatre.
• 1963 - Sutherland becomes a Research Associate at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
• 1967 - Sutherland publishes her plays Edufa and Foriwa.
• 1975 - Sutherland publishes The Marriage of Anansewa.
• 1983-1990 - Sutherland serves as chair of the Ghanaian National Commission on Children.