Anton Wilhelm Almo

Anton Wilhelm Amo was born in 1703 in Axim in the western region of present-day Ghana. In 1707 he was taken by the Dutch West India Company to Amsterdam and given as a “present” to German Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and sons Wilhelm August and Ludwig Rudolp, and treated as a member of the family and educated as such. Amo influenced by Augustus Hermann Francke and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Amo was the first African-born person known to have attended a European university. He responded to the heavy influence in the teaching and the ministry that flowed from Halle University. Liebniz is reported to have been a house guest at the home of nton Ulrich von Wolfenbuttel. Anton Amo was sometimes called a disciple of Liebniz.

1729 JD, University of Halle, 1730 M.Phil, University of Wittenberg, 1734 D.Phil., University of Wittenberg, 1735-39 Professor, University of Halle, 1740-46 Professor, University of Jena.

You can read more about Anton Amo in the African American Registry and Ghana Web. Image from Ghana Web.

Rev. Dr. Emanuel Grantson talks about Anton Anselm Amo.