lebrecht wilhelm fifi hesse was the director-general of the ghana broadcasting corporation, and a member of the public services commission of ghana. he was the principal secretary of the provisional national defence council (pndc) coordinating secretary's office, and a principal assistant secretary for the ministry of education and culture as an administrator in the ghana civil service. he also became first black african rhodes scholar in 1960. lebrecht wilhelm fifi hesse descends from the elite hesse bloodline, a ghanaian family of dano-german origins. however, despite their european origins, the family intermarried with prominent black elites. dr. lebrecht wilhelm hesse, a german medical doctor and a subject of the danish crown under king christian vii, was the original patriarch of the family. he worked for the danish colonial government, providing medical treatment for the danish missionary society and local soldiers. he married a local ga woman named lamiorkai, from osu amantra in accra. throughout the nineteenth century, his descendants became influential in commerce in the gold coast colony. they also became a prominent political family occupying ministerial and bureaucratic positions. rhodes scholar magazine 2021 at rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk:   dia/46894/1912-rhodes-scholar-2021- 4-lowres.pdf black history month in october, we published in-depth profiles of alain leroy locke (pennsylvania & hertford 1907), lebrecht wilhelm fifi hesse (ghana & oriel 1960), lucy banda sichone (zambia & somerville 1978), and tajudeen abdul-raheem (nigeria & st peters 1983) across our online platforms, for black history month. two of the profiles were then featured in the oxford black history month 100 campaign.   _family
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