Shanu, H.A., Boma, Congo

Herzekiah Andrew Shanu, 1858-1905. Boma. Congo

Belgien har en særlig historie med landets problematiske besiddelse af "Belgisk Congo". Først som deres konge Leopolds private besiddelse 1885-1908 og derefter som Belgisk Congo 1908-1960. Nu er historikeren Paul van Damme ved at skive om tiden, hvor den skandinaviske deltagelse, især i Leopolds tid, var betydelig. Billedet her skal bruges i hans bog. Det forestiller Johan Støckel, fra Rønne i Boma 1891.

I begyndelsen af oktober 1891 blev congoofficeren Støckel og hans gode ven, den svenske maskinchef John Ludwig Wall, som var blevet ansat i Congostatens tjeneste allerede i 1883, fotograferet i Boma af den "sorte fotograf" Herzekiah-Andrew Shanu (1858-1905). Billedet blev sendt hjem til familien på Bornholm. Støckel skrev om det: "Jeg har taget min Boy "M'Banzo" med paa Billedet, for at I kunde se, hvorledes Negrene gaa klædte". Bornholms Museum.

Herzekiah Andrew Shanu (Otta, Nigeria, 1858 - Boma, DR Congo, 1905). Unknown photographer. c. 1894. (Foirentlig taget af ansatte i Shanus atelier). Gift from E.J. De Keyzer. 1832. Coll. AfricaMuseum, Tervuren. HP.1965.14.246.
Billedet tilhører AfricaMuseum, Tervuren.

The Afropea gallery, inaugurated in December 2023 by the AfricaMuseum after a remodel, retraces the presence and influence of sub-Saharan African people in Belgium. Every tale deserves attention. We highlight one such story every month.
To address the lack of European personnel or adequately-trained Congolese when the Congo Free State was created in 1885, the new state turned to West Africans from British and French colonies. Herzekiah Andrew Shanu (1858-1905) was one of the first West Africans to arrive in Congo and travel to Belgium. Born in Otta, near Lagos, Nigeria, he worked as a teacher before joining the Association Internationale Africaine as a clerk in the then capital of Boma in 1884. Afterwards, he joined the colonial administration. By the end of his career, for which he was decorated, he had become deputy commissioner of Boma. After his resignation in 1893, he opened a general store, a laundry, and a photographic studio in Boma, as well as hotels and restaurants in Boma and Matadi.
In 1894, Shanu travelled to Europe where he visited Belgium, Germany, France and Britain. In Belgium, he visited the world exhibition in Antwerp, gave lectures on colonisation in Tienen (where he lodged his son) and Brussels, and made the acquaintance of Lieutenant Charles Lemaire, who described him favourably in his book, “Au Congo: comment les Noirs travaillent”.
In 1900, during the campaign of Edmund D. Morel and the Congo Reform Association against Leopold II, Shanu contacted Morel to provide the latter with information. This earned him the ire of the European population of Boma, and the Congo Free State administration prohibited employees from doing any more business with him. Shanu went bankrupt and ended his life.
The museum owns 42 photographs taken by Shanu. Some of them were published in Le Congo illustré (1885-1892). Given his privileged position, he could photograph Europeans as well as Africans, and his photographs offer a unique insight into life in the Congo Free State. West Africans working for the colonial administration occupied an intermediate position between Europeans and Congolese and were closer to the former by virtue of his work. By the time Congo became a Belgian colony, however, West African soldiers and colonial agents had been replaced by Congolese. West Africans lost their privileges and lived in townships alongside Congolese.

Støckel i Congo. I begyndelsen af oktober 1891 blev Støckel og hans gode ven, den svenske maskinchef John Ludwig Wall, som var blevet ansat i Congostatens tjeneste allerede i 1883, fotograferet i Boma af den "sorte fotograf" H.A. Shanu. Billedet blev sendt hjem til familien. Støckel skrev om det: "Jeg har taget min Boy "M'Banzo" med paa Billedet, for at I kunde se, hvorledes Negrene gaa klædte". Bornholms Museum.

Høvding med paradekniv og hue af røde papegøjehalefjer samt fem af hans 60 hustruer. Denne familie førtes af Premierløjtnant Støckel til Antverpen.
Johan Støckels billeder blev benyttet af H. Jenssen-Tusch i bogen: Skandinaver i Congo, 1902-1905.

Herzekiah-Andrew Shanu (1858-1905), of Nigerian origin, was trained as a teacher by the Church Missionary Society and taught for several years at the primary school in Lagos. In 1884, he entered into the service of the International Congo Association where he spent nine years working for the administration and ended his career in the service of the Congo Free State as sub-commissioner in the district of Boma. He was a remarkable man in every respect and especially known for his photographs which recount an episode in the history of the Congo Free State.
In 1893, he left the administration to devote himself to his business which quickly prospered thanks to various activities such as the hotel industry, photography, the sale of food products, ready-to-wear clothing and even laundry services. Shanu travelled through Europe and visited Belgium, France, Germany and England, a rare feat for an African at that time.
In 1894 he apparently visited the Universal Exhibition in Antwerp. He was invited by the Belgian Association for Colonial Studies and gave several lectures, mainly in Brussels to the Royal African Circle and in Tirlemont.

It was during his stay in Belgium that he made the acquaintance of Lieutenant Charles Lemaire. The two men met up again in Congo. Lemaire's notebooks relate the confidences and impressions of Shanu who, in the eyes of Lemaire, had "an intimate contact with the people of his race".

At the time of the anti-Leopold campaign started by Edmund D. Morel and the Congo Reform Association, Shanu entered into contact with Morel and sent him information, notably on the ongoing trials. Following his involvement in this affair, he was banned from the European society of Boma, which led to the bankruptcy of his commercial activities and probably to his suicide in September 1905.

The RMCA has around sixty photographs, believed to have been taken by Shanu, in the form of glass plates and clichés.

20 photos are online:

Kilde, tekst: africamuseum.be se billeder HER.

Jeg affotograferede for en del år siden, da de var i privateje hos efterkommere efter "premierløjtnant" Johan Støckel (som endte med at blive direktør for Tøjhusmuseet).
Støckel havde arbejdet som officer i Kong Leopolds Fri Congostat og opnåede at blive dekoreret med "L'Etoile de Service" i 1894. Han havde allerede da "museumsblod" i årene og bragte store samlinger med sig til Danmark (de er nu på Nationalmuseet), deriblandt mange fotografier fra de tidligste år i Congostaten. Han har tre optagelser af Force publique-soldater i Congostatens hovedstad, Boma. De er tekstet således af Støckel: "Sort Sierra Leone Sergent, Bokari-Kanu, med sin deling Sierra Leone-soldater, fotografret foran et bølgeblikskur på Boma Beach af Shanu, en "Haussaneger, der har nedsat sig i Boma som Købmand". (Bølgeblikskuret var forneden magasin, foroven bolig for syge europæere.)" Den afrikanske fotograf Shanus historie var barsk.

Billeder af H.A. Shanu, fra Johan Støckels samling. I familiens eje. Teksten på bagsiden er Johan Støckels. Billederne havde været udlånt til Jenssen Tuschs store værk om Congostaten, Skandinaver i Congo, 1902-1905.

En samling af Shanu's billeder fra Congo, tilhører © Jeppe Gram

Foto Shanu. "Jardin du Boma". © Jeppe Gram.

Foto Shanu, "Boma Rive" © Jeppe Gram

Foto Shanu, "Fetish Piger" © Jeppe Gram

Foto Shanu, "Bangala Soldater" © Jeppe Gram

Foto Shanu, "Ba... " © Jeppe Gram

Foto J. Petersen & Søn, Kbh. (affoto). Kabinet. Wright+dansker/belgier med oppasser. © Jeppe Gram (#8881 C. 1880-ca. 1900, Østergade 34, København.)

Jeppe Gram: List of photos belonging to Vigo Wright (in Congo 1889-1904, maybe later also, primarily Banana and Boma and the lower river). In brackets my transcribing of Wrights smudged pencil annotations, I have commented when they are not self-explanatory.

1: “Jardin de Boma”
2: “Boma Rive”
3: ”Fetisch Piger” = Fetish girls in Danish, clearly a misunderstanding. The same photo has been printed in Le Congo Illustré 1992 as well as other places, as portraying Inkimba or NKimba initiates, which were always male. The bodies painted with kaolin, all wearing skirts of grass or straw. LCI informs that the photo was taken in the village of Nékuku.
4: “Bangala (?) Soldater” = Bangala (?) Soldiers. Black soldiers with 4 white officers.
5: “H----- -----------”. A group of black soldiers led by a white officer.
6: “La Chasse(?)”. Not sure about my reading, however if it stands (quite unusual for Wright as it is in French and not a topographical name), then it might indicate that the photo had a title already, when Wright bought it – which might be credible with the narrative quality of the photo. Buit I might simply read the handwriting wrong, and speculate too much.
7: “Indfødte fra (?) ---------” = Natives from (?) ----------. A group of African men and boys, most in traditional dress, many with similar tribal scarifications on their foreheads.
8: “---------- de Gouverneur”. The residence of the general governor of the Congo Free State in Boma.
+
9: The picture of Wright, a guest and a black servant in Wright’s house in Banana. NOT with Shanu’s mark on the back.

Photo acquired via online shopping, from Belgium as I recall:

10: Portrait of an unknown uniformed bearded white man. Shanu’s mark on the back, different cabinet card than the others, plus a signed, unlegible inscription – presumeably sent or given by the subject on front. Is the name T. T------? What language is the writing -Danish, English, French, Flemish, other? Do let me know if you can guess what it says!”

Bagsidetryk. Kabinetkort. Shanus blækstempel.

Belgisk officer, bagsidetryk. Håndskrevet tekst: ...