William Ansah Sessarakoo’s life embodied the complexities of identity, race, and power in the 18th-century transatlantic world. Born in Anomabu on the coast of present-day Ghana, he was the son of Eno Baisie Kurentsi, known to the English as John Currantee. Kurentsi, a prominent merchant, was deeply involved in the slave-trade, providing both English and French interests with access to enslaved Africans.
Sessarakoo’s life took a dramatic turn when, in 1747, he was sent by his father to England for education and training and to strengthen Kurentsi’s trade relations with the English. Ironically, while enroute, Sessarakoo was captured and sold into slavery in Barbados. His powerful father demanded his disappearance be investigated, and Sessarakoo was freed and eventually sailed on to England.
Sessarakoo’s presence in England highlighted the contradictions of British society, which celebrated his nobility, despite profiting from the traffic of enslaved Africans. In London, he was referred to as “The African Prince” and “The Prince of Anomabu,” treated as a distinguished guest, and received with great curiosity by high society, including King George II. These high-profile social events included him sitting for this portrait, which was commissioned from British portraitist Gabriel Mathias. Mathias presented his subject in the formal dress and posture of an aristocrat undertaking his “Grand Tour"—an extended journey across Europe to study art, architecture, and culture. The painting was soon replicated in engravings that accompanied the various press reports of Sessarakoo’s public appearances.
After two years in England, Sessarakoo returned to the Gold Coast to great local acclaim. Paradoxically, despite his own experience of capture and enslavement, he continued his father’s slave trading interests, becoming one of the Anomabu’s most active agents.
