Missionaries appeared to treat African children as subjects of cultural imperialism and forced assimilation, causing many children to view their 'liberation' as another form of enslavement and often resulting in the children running away back to their families.
From historical analyses, it is evident that missionaries seemed to treat African children in a way that many of these children viewed as another form of enslavement. The children, bought into freedom by missionaries like those from the Basel Mission Society (BMS), were removed from their home cultures, forced to wear European clothing, speak a new language, and many were unhappy with these changes. This led to instances where children would run away and return to their families, illustrating a resistance to the coercive assimilation into European ways of life and faith, often perceived as colonial domination. The apparent kindness of missionaries in providing for the children's needs was overshadowed by the practice of cultural imperialism, where children were taught to look down upon their own cultural heritage.