J. F. Ade Ajayi

J. F. Ade Ajayi (1929-2014) was a pioneering Nigerian historian and academic who specialized in nineteenth-century African history, particularly missions, missionaries, and the formation of Western-educated elites. He was a leading figure of the Ibadan history school, instrumental in decolonizing African studies and reshaping the University of Ibadan's history curriculum to center African perspectives rather than Eurocentric views. He served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos from 1972 to 1978 and was recognized internationally as a distinguished Africanist scholar.