Do you know that almost everything you enjoy today are traced to the unsung heroism of many African women?
We’re about to rediscover each of this African women.
Even if the writings of history might tempt us to forget how much role African women have played in the history of humankind because quite often, those history are often written by men, with their masculine heroes. In this article, we will pay homage to a selection of the powerful and influential African woman in human history.
Yennega: A Female Stallion
Yennega, an emblematic figure in Burkina Faso, was the mother of Ouedraogo, the founder of the dynasties of the Moose chieftains.
She is thought to have lived between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Weary of the warrior role in which she had been cast by her father, the King of Gambaga, she ran away and met a solitary hunter. A legendary figure in West Africa, Yennega is the epitome of the female warrior, a free and independently minded woman.
Today, the Burkina Faso national football team are nicknames “Les Étalons” (“the Stallions”), this is in reference to Yennega.
Kahina (c.600-c.650): A Jewish Revolutionary
Kahina was born in the early seventh century and died around the end of the seventh century in modern day Algeria. She is believed to have been queen, religious and military leader of the Djéraoua, a powerful Berber tribe of Jewish origin.
She led an indigenous resistance to the expansion of the Arabian empire in Numidia, northwest Africa, known today as Algeria.
Today, a monument is dedicated to her honor in Khenchela, Algeria.
Nzinga Mbandi (1581-1663): African Warrior Queen
Carefully following the lead of her father in fighting the Portuguese quests for slaves in Central Africa.
She was the Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, and she defined much of the history of seventeenth-century Angola. A deft diplomat, skillful negotiator and formidable tactician, Nzinga resisted Portugal’s colonial designs tenaciously until her death in 1663.
She continues to be remembered today with a statue constructed in her honor in Luanda, Angola.
Nanny of the Maroons (c.1685 – c.1755): The Mother of the Jamaicans
Starting life as a Jamaican slave from Ghana, Nanny of the Maroons become a strong influence in fighting against the British and freeing slaves in Jamaica.
Nanny, also known as Queen Nanny was Born in 1686 into the Ashanti tribe of Ghana, Western Africa, she was later sent as a slave to Jamaica to work on the sugarcane plantation. After escaping from her plantation, she rose to become leader of the Maroons, a group of runaway Jamaican slaves.
Before her death around 1733 by a British attack, she has successfully motivated as an insurgent that was eventually lead to the independence of modern-day Jamaica who have now named her a National hero.
She continues her legacy with her portrait gracing the Jamaican $500 bank note.
Solitude (1772-1802): A Caribbean Freedom Fighter
Mulatto Solitude, was born to a mother raped by a slave master. Not being deterred by her background, she fought hard for the freeing of slaves in the West Indies.
In May 1802, while a few months pregnant, the Mulatto Solitude took part in the Guadeloupian uprisings against the reinstatement of Lacrosse, who had been appointed Captain-General of Guadeloupe by Napoleon Bonaparte and expelled in October 1801 following a coup by the army’s officers of color.
After her arrest, Solitude was imprisoned and a day after giving birth, she was hanged. Solitude symbolizes all Caribbean women and mothers who fought for equality and freedom from slavery.
Today, she continues to be remembered with a statue built to her honor in Les Abymes (Guadeloupe).
Luiza Mahin (c.1800 – Unknown): An Afro-Brazilian Freedom Fighter
Luiza Mahin, born at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was a Afro-Brazilian freedom fighter.
Mahin became involved in revolts and uprisings of slaves in the Brazilian province of Bahia. A street vendor by profession, she used her business as a distributor for messages and leaflets in the resistance struggle.
She played a central role in the significant “Revolta dos Males” (1835) and “Sabina” (1837-1838) slave rebellions.
Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1840-1921): A Ghanian Rebel
Asantewaa was key to mobilizing the Ghanian rebellion against the European rule of the the Asante region. A part she was able to play with her appointment as the queen mother of the Edweso tribe of the Asante in modern day Ghana.
On March 1900, she led an army of thousands in the Yaa Asantewaa War for Independence against the British colonial forces in Ghana. Despite mounting a strong attack, she was defeated in 1901 by the British and exiled to the Seychelles where she spent two decades until her death in October 1921.
Today, her legacy continues with the African-Caribbean Arts and Community center in Maida Vale, West London being named after her.
Nehanda Nyakasikana (c. 1840-1898): The Zimbabwean Liberator
Coming from an humble background, she laid the foundation for the Zimbabwe liberation.She was a female spiritualist leader from Mashonaland, Zimbabwe, and a key leader in the First Chimurenga, or ‘the war of liberation’, against British colonial settlers in 1896–1897.
She was considered to be the female incarnation of the oracle spirit Nehanda. After being captured by the British, she predicted that her spirit would lead the second Chimurenga against the British, which eventually culminated in the independence of present-day Zimbabwe.
Today, she is remembered with the maternity section of the Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe named after her.
Taytu Betul (c. 1851-1918): An Ethopian Anti-Colonialist
Betal played a crucial role in the modernization of Ethopia, remarkably for leading the charge to defat the Italian army in 1896.
She was a formidable queen and empress of Ethiopia. An astute diplomat, she proved to be a key figure in thwarting Italian imperialist designs on Ethiopia. Later, she and her husband Emperor Menelik II, led a huge army to battle at Adwa, where they won one of the most important victories of any African army against European colonialist aggression.
Huda Shaarawi (1879-1974): A Pioneer Egyptian Feminist
Becoming the first president of the Egyptian Representative Council [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Egypt] and a pioneer Egyptian feminist leader and nationalist was not an easy feat for Shaarawi.
Having to face the confinement of women to their homes in her times. She helped to organize Mubarrat Muhammad Ali, a women’s social service organization, in 1909, and the Intellectual Association of Egyptian Women in 1914. Her feminist activism was complemented by her involvement in Egypt’s nationalist struggle. She established the Egyptian Feminist Union in 1923, was founding president of the Arab Feminist Union, and spoke widely on women’s issues and concerns throughout the Arab world and Europe.
She continues her legacy with many of the unions she founded continue to influence Egypt today, most notably Egyptian Feminists Union.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900-1978): A Nigerian Wonder Women
There is arguable no other person that has fought for human rights (not just women’s) in Nigeria like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
She was a leading force in leading activist during Nigerian women’s anti-colonial struggles. She founded the Abeokuta Women’s Union, one of the most impressive women’s organizations of the twentieth century (with a membership estimated to have reached up to 20,000 women), which fought to protect and further the rights of women.
Following her strong opposition to Nigerian government, she was thrown from the third-story of her son’s (Fela Kuti) home which eventually lead to her death on 13 April 1978.
Today, two of her grandsons Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti (both sons of the activist Fela Kuti) continue to lead her struggle of human rights activism through their music.
Margaret Ekpo (1914-2006): A Pioneer Woman in Politics
Starting with her background as a seamstress, she become a pioneering force in the african women politics in Nigeria’s first republic.
Margaret Ekpo was famous for being a fashionable woman who combined western and Nigerian fashion influences. Perhaps her background as a seamstress enabled her to even better express her ‘Afropolitan’ lifestyle via her clothing. She loved ballroom dancing and was a devout Christian, but when it came to her political activism, which really is what she was about, she made sure to uphold an image of Africaness, wearing traditional clothes during political campaigns.
At the time of her death, she left behind a legacy of ‘One Nigeria’, ‘Women in Politics’, ‘Women in Business and Leadership’ and ‘Emancipation for Women’.
In 2001, the Cross River, Nigeria state Airport was named after her.
Gisèle Rabesahala (1929-2011): A Political Champion
Rebesahala was a celebrated Malagasy woman politician of the twentieth century.
She devoted her life to her country’s independence, human rights and the freedom of peoples. The first Malagasy woman to be elected as a municipal councillor (1956) and political party leader (1958), and to be appointed minister (1977), she is regarded as a pioneer in Malagasy politics.
Miriam Makeba (1932-2008): Against Apartheid
Makeba was pivotal in fighting against South Africa’s apartheid — and it was challenging.
She was an award-winning singer and political activist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. As a consequence of fighting against the apartheid regime, her South African citizenship was revoked.
She toured internationally and collaborated with artists including Harry Belafonte with whom she won a Grammy award.
She continues to be remembered by her many songs, most famously Pata Pata.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCc61z9IFu4].
Wangari Maathai (1940-2011): An Environmental Activist Pioneer
Been the first African woman to receive a Nobel peace price (in 2004) was one of the many achievement of Maathai. She was a Kenyan scholar and environmental activist.
Her living legacy is the founding of the pioneering Green Belt Movement in 1977, which encourages people, particularly women, to plant trees to combat environmental degradation. Her holistic approach eventually led her to link environmental responsibility to political struggles of governance, human rights and peace.
Although she died from the complication of ovarian cancer, her legacy is alive with the work of the Green Belt Movement.
I’m inspired by each of this women, did we miss any of your personal favorite?
Let us know in the comments.