Robert Lee (dentist) facts for kids

Robert Edward Lee (born May 13, 1920 – died July 5, 2010) was a Ghanaian dentist. He was born in South Carolina, USA, into an African-American family. He studied dentistry in Tennessee. In 1956, he and his wife, Sara, who was also a dentist, moved to Ghana. They were the first black dentists in Ghana. Later, in the 1970s, Lee helped with a project to fix up old forts along Ghana's coast. These forts were important reminders of the Atlantic slave trade. He lived in Ghana for the rest of his life.

Early Life and Education

Robert Edward Lee was born in Summerville, South Carolina. His parents were Samuel Eugene and Emily Holmes Lee. He had many brothers and sisters. His father was a barber, but all of Lee's siblings became successful in different jobs like business, engineering, and medicine.

Lee went to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania for his first degree. There, he met two important people: Kwame Nkrumah, who would later become Ghana's leader, and W. E. B. Du Bois, another American who would also move to Ghana.

After Lincoln University, Lee studied at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1945, he earned his degree to become a dentist. That same year, he married his classmate, Sara Archie. They moved to New York City to complete their dental training. They had two sons, Robert Lowry Lee and Jeffrey Randall Lee.

Lee also served in the United States Army Medical Corps starting in 1950, during the Korean War. He was stationed at Camp Stewart in Georgia. As an officer, he felt he was treated better than other black people in Georgia at the time.

Moving to Ghana

Lee first visited Ghana in 1953. He wanted to learn about Nkrumah's home country and see if he could help it grow. In 1956, he moved to Accra, Ghana, with his family. Many other African Americans and his classmates from Lincoln University also moved to Ghana later. They brought their skills to help the country, which was becoming independent.

When Martin Luther King Jr. visited Ghana in 1957 for the independence celebrations, Lee and another American, Bill Sutherland, organized a dinner for him. Julius Nyerere, a future leader from Tanzania, was also a guest. Lee became known as a respected leader among the African-American community in Ghana. He also helped new African Americans who came to Ghana looking for their roots.

Lee explained that he moved from the United States not because he was sad or giving up on the Civil Rights Movement. Instead, he was excited by the Ghanaian people's hope and their belief that they could become free from colonial rule and build their own country. He also wanted to raise his children in a place where they could grow up feeling good about themselves and without prejudice.

Becoming Part of Ghanaian Society

Even though Ghana's leader, Nkrumah, welcomed people from the African diaspora, African Americans who moved to Ghana sometimes faced challenges. However, Lee remained positive about Ghana. He said that learning the languages of Ghana helped him connect with the local people. In 1963, he became a Ghanaian citizen and gave up his United States citizenship.

After a new government took over from Nkrumah in 1966, many African Americans left Ghana. But Lee stayed. He refused to lose hope in the country's future. He believed that while the United States had its problems, it was still home for many Americans.

When Lee moved to Accra, there was only one other dentist in the city. Lee quickly opened his own dental clinic using equipment he brought from the U.S. His wife, Sara, also a dentist, started Ghana's first dental teaching clinic. Lee believed his wife helped many Ghanaian women become dentists. He noted that many dentists in Accra later were women.

Restoring Fort Amsterdam

In the 1970s, Lee was part of a group called the African Descendants Association Foundation (ADAF). In 1971, they started working to restore Fort Amsterdam at Abandze. Lee saw Ghana's slave forts as a strong link to his own family history and to all African Americans. As a descendant of a former slave who had returned to Africa, he felt it was his duty to help rebuild the fort.

ADAF raised money for the restoration. They held events like a memorial service for musician Louis Armstrong. By early 1972, Lee and his group had raised about one-fifth of the US$50,000 they needed. Lee hoped the fort would become a symbol of unity for Africans and black people in the Western world. He wanted it to represent their long fight for freedom and fairness.

However, it became harder for Lee to raise money from the United States. Despite promises from famous people, not many African Americans showed continued interest in his efforts.

ADAF's work on the fort also led to disagreements with the Ghanaian government. The government was trying to get money from UNESCO to restore many historical sites. They worried that ADAF's focus on the Atlantic slave trade might make foreign donors less interested. Because of this, the Ghanaian government ended ADAF's lease on Fort Amsterdam in 1973.

Even with this setback, Lee continued to care deeply about the forts. He spoke out against what he saw as their misuse. In 1994, he gave a speech where he called the forts "sacred spaces." He did not want them to be turned into places like nightclubs or hotels for tourists.

Later Life and Achievements

Lee later started a student hostel and guest house. He wanted to provide affordable places for international students from other parts of Africa to stay. He also invested in other projects, like a farm and a driving range. He stopped working as a dentist in 2002.

In 2007, he gave photographs of Kwame Nkrumah that he had taken to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. This was for Ghana's 50th anniversary of independence. In his older years, he still paid attention to events in the United States, especially Barack Obama's presidential campaign and election in 2008. When Obama visited Ghana in 2009, Lee said he was happy to see the United States making progress, but he felt Ghana had made progress much earlier.

In 2008, the University of Ghana-Legon gave him an honorary doctorate. This was to recognize his important contributions to public service. He was the second American to receive such an honor from the university, after W. E. B. Du Bois.

Death and Funeral

Robert Edward Lee passed away at his home in Labone, Accra, on July 5, 2010, at the age of 90. He was survived by his son Jeffrey Randall Lee, his daughter-in-law Naa Ofeibia Saakwa-Mante Lee, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His body was laid in state and a funeral service was held for him at the Du Bois Centre in Accra on July 24, 2010.