Yet another case of the persistence of status!
Sierra Leone has had several coups and a long civil war.
But old elites of (a) Krio or Creole (American blacks who had sided with the British in 1776) and (b) chiefs are still more common in elite occupations.
Name analysis shows.
Krio/Creole are more in business and professional elite jobs, the chiefs more in political elite positions.
The Krio were originally 1200 Americans blacks plus later freed slaves. They must have been a highly selected group.
Here's a thread detailing many other cases of persistent status across social upheavals.
The simplest explanation is that status is inherited because (a) traits that bring status are heritable and (b) assortative mating.
Source: Elite persistence in Sierra Leone: What can names tell us?
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Sierra Leone also has two other relatively elite groups: Lebanese and Fulani. They are middleman minorities (traders, etc).
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