During his Liberian career, Blyden was a Presbyterian minister, a newspaper editor, a professor of classics, President of Liberia College, Ambassador to Great Britain, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of State. In 1885, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency.
But Edward Blyden was also well known in Sierra Leone, where he had spent two years (1871-73) as Government Agent to the Interior, leading two official expeditions - one to Falaba and the other to Futa Jallon. In 1885, after his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency of Liberia, Blyden based permanently in Freetown. In fact, Blyden was in many ways a greater intellectual force in Sierra Leone than in Liberia. He stirred controversy and lively debate in the Krio community by opposing the indiscriminate emulation of European culture.
He told the Krios that they were "de-Africanised " scolded them for holding themselves aloof from the upcountry peoples, and advised them to remember always that "you are Africans".
After the 1887 publication of his masterpiece, “Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, some Krios under Blyden’s influence began to adopt African names and even to emulate traditional African dress. Edward Blyden was one of the most original thinkers of his time, and although some of his ideas seem archaic today, he was a major force for the defense of Africans and of Black Civilization. Blyden looked forward to the rise of an independent West African nation, and he encouraged British colonial efforts as a means of uniting this vast area. At the same time, Blyden regarded Africans as having a unique "personality" and a distinctive culture equal to but different from, that of Europeans. He urged the British to allow Africans more autonomy in political and church matters, and argued against the imposition of European culture.
