I am creating a lesson plan for an English class and am looking to provide some contextual sources. While I have articles and texts analyzing the topic, I was searching for some writings from both Europeans and Africans (particularly the Asante in the Gold Coast) that give their perspectives on what was happening. If possible, perhaps some justification on colonization (i.e. Kipling's white man's burden).
Thank you in advance for any help you are able to provide.
There are some good works out there.
Africa and the West; A Documentary History volume 1 contains a selection of primary sources. The majority of them come from European point of view, although there are famous examples like Alfonso I of Kongo's letters to the king of Portugal from 1526; as well as extracts from the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano.
King Guezo of Dahomey | 1850-52 by Tim Coates (editor) is a selection of British diplomatic cables from envoys to Guezo, king of Dahomey (now Republic of Benin). It's not about Asante, but is very close by.
African Voices in the Atlantic Slave Trade by Anne C. Bailey is a collection of 5 oral traditions from Ghana dating to the slave trade. These traditions come from Eweland, which is on the Atlantic coast, to the south of Asanteland proper, but neighbors of Asante.
There is also Colonial Rule in Africa; Readings from Primary Sources edited by Bruce Fetter. This focuses more on the period from 1870-1960. It is heavy on European documents, though it does include a few 19th century documents from Muslim authors in North Africa and the Sudan. There are also some documents from Central Africa, testimony of africans in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
There is certainly more in this genre, and probably something that touches more precisely on what you are looking for, but I have to admit that I haven't come across it yet.