Professor Folarin Shyllon — Reclaiming Africa’s History

Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate those who challenged historical injustice and helped restore the stories, identities and heritage of Black people.

Professor Folarin Olawale Shyllon was one such figure: a distinguished Nigerian legal scholar, pioneering historian of Black people in Britain, and leading advocate for the restitution of Africa’s looted cultural treasures.

Born in Lagos on 23 July 1940, Shyllon went on to study law at King’s College London, obtaining his LLB in 1966 and LLM in 1967. His academic career would span continents, connecting the history of the African diaspora with the struggle for justice and the protection of African cultural heritage.

Rewriting the history of Black Britain

In the 1970s, Shyllon challenged the marginalisation of Black people in British historical accounts. His influential books, Black Slaves in Britain (1974) and Black People in Britain, 1555–1833 (1977), documented the presence and experiences of Africans in Britain long before the arrival of the Windrush generation.

His research confronted the historical amnesia surrounding slavery, demonstrating that Black people were not strangers to British history but had been part of its story for centuries.

This scholarship remains significant today. Understanding Britain’s past requires acknowledging not only its imperial achievements but also the lives of those whose labour, experiences and struggles were too often excluded from the national narrative.

A pioneer in Nigerian legal education

Shyllon became the foundation Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ibadan in 1983, helping to shape its academic direction and develop future generations of Nigerian lawyers and legal scholars.

In 1987, he delivered his inaugural lecture, Freedom, Justice & the Rule of Law, reflecting the principles that underpinned his career. His influence extended beyond the lecture theatre, with his work contributing to legal education and public understanding of justice in Nigeria.

After retiring from Ibadan in 2005, he continued his academic career at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State, where he served as Dean of Law.

Fighting for Africa’s stolen heritage

One of Shyllon’s most enduring contributions was his work to protect African cultural heritage and secure the return of objects removed during colonial rule.

The Benin Bronzes, looted by British forces during the 1897 punitive expedition against Benin City in present-day Nigeria, became a powerful symbol of this struggle. These extraordinary works represent African artistic achievement, history and cultural identity.

Shyllon became an internationally respected authority on cultural heritage law, contributing to the development and implementation of international frameworks associated with UNESCO and UNIDROIT. The 1970 UNESCO Convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention established important legal mechanisms to combat the illicit trade in cultural property and support the restitution of stolen objects.

His 2013 book, Cultural Heritage Law and Management in Africa, examined the legal and practical challenges of protecting African heritage.

For Shyllon, restitution was about more than returning valuable objects. It was about justice, historical truth and the right of African communities to preserve and interpret their own inheritance.

A legacy of truth and justice

Professor Shyllon died on 13 January 2021, aged 80, leaving behind a legacy that connected historical research, legal scholarship and cultural advocacy.

His life’s work reminds us that the struggle for justice does not end with political independence. It also demands the recovery of suppressed histories, the protection of cultural memory and the restoration of what was unjustly taken.

This Black History Month, Black Wall St. Media celebrates Professor Folarin Olawale Shyllon as a scholar who challenged historical erasure, helped shape Nigerian legal education and championed Africa’s right to its cultural heritage.

His legacy leaves us with a powerful lesson: a people who reclaim their history reclaim their power to shape the future.

Black Wall St. Media — Black history is world history.