Tagged: feminism

  1. fyeahblackhistory:

    African Queens

    Excerpt from Max Dashu’s Women’s Power dvd, from the suppressed Histories Archives

    Africa is rich in positive female history and famous for its queens.

    Queen Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Nzingha, Queen Hatshepsut, Queen Nefetari and Queen Cleopatra.

    (via fuckyeahblackhistory)

  2. sooolondon: madamethursday: [Image: A picture of a tall, very thin Black woman with her shoulder over a shorter, older white man wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing on a New York sideway.] staghunts: “This one is very serious, guys: I came upon these two on the sidewalk. They were having a conversation. “Excuse me,” I said, addressing the girl: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is there anyway I can take your photo?” “Why would you want my photo?” she asked. “Because you look beautiful,” I said. And she did. She was Sudanese. There is a very distinct beauty among people from the Sudan, and she was filled up with it. Suddenly the man cut in:  “I was just telling her she was beautiful,” he said.  Naively, I assumed I had just walked up on one stranger giving a compliment to another. I wanted to capture the moment. “Let me take your photograph together,” I said. The man seemed reluctant, he started smiling nervously and inching away. But the girl called him back.  “Come take a picture with me,” she said. Encouraged by her attention, he returned. She put her arm around him, and I took the photo. As I examined the photos on my camera, the man started whispering to the girl. She answered him in a loud voice: “I told you! I’m not that kind of girl.” She seemed agitated now. Finally sensing that I had misread the situation, I stepped between them. The man began hurrying down the sidewalk. When the man left, the girl’s demeanor changed completely. She seemed shaken. Her eyes were tearing up. “He just offered me five hundred dollars to go out with him,” she said. “And then when I said ‘no,’ he offered me one thousand. Why does this always happen to me?” “It happens a lot?” I asked. “All the time,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m getting emotional. I just can’t go out of my house without this kind of thing happening. I have a son. I’m a mother. I would never degrade myself like that. I just don’t understand why this keeps happening.” “Do you mind if I tell this story?” I asked. “Please,” she said. “Tell it.” Let’s hope this man, and all men, realize the emotional damage they are inflicting on the women they try to buy. In the meantime, feel free to SHARE.* Dear Tumblr, fuck you for trying to erase this.  I’m saving this post because as many times as Tumblr tries to erase this woman’s story and act like anything about this was okay, that’s as many times as I’m reposting it. They can either cut me off or stop being assnuggets about this. whichEVER.  Reblogging because Tumblr deleted it from my archives to over for some nasty ass man. Fucking shameful 

    sooolondon:

    madamethursday:

    [Image: A picture of a tall, very thin Black woman with her shoulder over a shorter, older white man wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing on a New York sideway.]

    staghunts:

    “This one is very serious, guys:

    I came upon these two on the sidewalk. They were having a conversation. “Excuse me,” I said, addressing the girl: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is there anyway I can take your photo?”

    “Why would you want my photo?” she asked.

    “Because you look beautiful,” I said. And she did. She was Sudanese. There is a very distinct beauty among people from the Sudan, and she was filled up with it. Suddenly the man cut in: 

    “I was just telling her she was beautiful,” he said. 

    Naively, I assumed I had just walked up on one stranger giving a compliment to another. I wanted to capture the moment. “Let me take your photograph together,” I said. The man seemed reluctant, he started smiling nervously and inching away. But the girl called him back. 

    “Come take a picture with me,” she said. Encouraged by her attention, he returned. She put her arm around him, and I took the photo.

    As I examined the photos on my camera, the man started whispering to the girl. She answered him in a loud voice: “I told you! I’m not that kind of girl.” She seemed agitated now. Finally sensing that I had misread the situation, I stepped between them. The man began hurrying down the sidewalk.

    When the man left, the girl’s demeanor changed completely. She seemed shaken. Her eyes were tearing up. “He just offered me five hundred dollars to go out with him,” she said. “And then when I said ‘no,’ he offered me one thousand. Why does this always happen to me?”

    “It happens a lot?” I asked.

    “All the time,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m getting emotional. I just can’t go out of my house without this kind of thing happening. I have a son. I’m a mother. I would never degrade myself like that. I just don’t understand why this keeps happening.”

    “Do you mind if I tell this story?” I asked.

    “Please,” she said. “Tell it.”

    Let’s hope this man, and all men, realize the emotional damage they are inflicting on the women they try to buy. In the meantime, feel free to SHARE.*

    Dear Tumblr, fuck you for trying to erase this. 

    I’m saving this post because as many times as Tumblr tries to erase this woman’s story and act like anything about this was okay, that’s as many times as I’m reposting it. They can either cut me off or stop being assnuggets about this. whichEVER. 

    Reblogging because Tumblr deleted it from my archives to over for some nasty ass man.

    Fucking shameful 

  3. Dr Ivan Van Sertima - Black Women In Antiquity

    A lecture based on his book Black Women in Antiquity (Journal of African Civilizations) 

    Here he discusses African queens, madonnas, and goddesses who has a profound impact on history and imagination of ancient the times. Here he discusses Ethiopia and Egypt because the documents of the Nile Valley are voluminous compared to the sketchier more unknown other parts of Africa, but also because the imagination of the world, not just that of Africa, was haunted by these women. They are just as prominent a feature of European mythology as of African reality.

  4. Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012)
    Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012)
    Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012)
    Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church. The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa. She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory. Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo. She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy. Early Life Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth. She was shaped by two things: African Spirituality & Christianity As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism). Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Mission With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her. Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador. She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem. Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that; Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible
 The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
. Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi. Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis. Heaven was for also for Africans
. The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese. Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics. The History Catholicism in Congo The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government. This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome. The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith). The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. . However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars. Death Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers. The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church. Conclusion Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them. The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo. She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo. Legacy The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU. It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804. To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola. The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966. References:R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009, Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Online Sources: “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012) Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/ “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012) “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012)

    Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684–1706) Saint of Kongo

    • One of the first African women to fight against European dominance in Africa during the colonial period & expose the racism and misogyny in the Catholic church.
    • The founder of the first black Christian movement in Sub-Saharan Africa.
    • She fought all  forms of slavery, and tried to reconcile Christianity with African religions and beliefs, teaching people that black saints mingled with white saints in paradise. This was revolutionary, since Catholic priests in the area (Capuchins) taught that ONLY white saints could be found in heaven

    • While still in her teens, she started a non-violent anti Colonial movement to liberate the Kingdom of Kongo and return it to its former glory.

    • Led thousands of her people to rebuild and repopulate Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the once glorious unified Kingdom of Kongo.

    • She was burned at the stake as a which for heresy.

    Early Life

    Kimpa Vita was born near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo soon after the death of King António I(1661–65), It is believed that she was connected to King António I who died at the battle of Mbwila (Ulanga) a battle orientated around the removal the Portuguese from his region. Following António I death was a time of internal strife, political unrest and civil war. As was the centuries old tradition with Kongolese nobles, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic church at birth.

    She was shaped by two things:

    1. African Spirituality & Christianity

    As a child Kimpa Vita had ‘gifts’, she constantly saw visions and dreamt of playing with angels. Due to her innate spirituality, Kimpa Vita was trained as a (Shaman) Nganga marinda, a individual who consults the supernatural world to solve problems within the community. As could be expected, the European missionaries did not like the existence of the Nganga marinda nor did they like the fact that the Kongolese widely accepted them as legitimate (this despite two centuries of Catholicism).

    1. Decline of the Kingdom of Kongo

    The kingdom of Kongo (now a part of modern Angola and Congo), the wealthiest and most powerful state in the Atlantic region of Central Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, began to dissolve in the seventeenth century under internal and external pressures. Portuguese military aggression emanating from the Angola colony to the south spurred the kingdom’s disintegration, notably at the battle of Mbwila in 1665 at which Portuguese troops killed the Kongo ruler Antonio I. The kingdom was plagued by devastating civil wars which fed the ravenous Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the eighteenth century there was an immense political and cultural vacuum, the Kongo capital Mbanza Kongo (also known as São Salvador) had been abandoned and the kingdom had broken up into small territories ruled by warlords and members of the old Kongo nobility. Memories of Kongo’s past glory remained, however, and a series of popular movements developed out of the Kongo people’s desire to restore the kingdom to its former greatness.

    Mission

    With her training as a shaman and her identification as a Christian, Kimpa Vita began to be recognized as a prophetess. In 1704 at the age of 20 she had a near death experience when she appeared to die of a fever. When she had been resuscitated she believed that she now spoke with the voice of the patron saint of Kongo, and also incidentally the patron saint of Portugal, St. Anthony of Padua she believed Saint Anthony became incarnate in her body and so she became the physical manifestation of the saint, who addressed the kingdom’s problems through her.

    Compelled by the Christian God to announce his word to restore the kingdom through adherence to a vision of Catholicism that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. She also wanted to restore the former Kongo capital San Salvador.

    She concerned herself with the restoration, spiritually and politically, of the Kongo Kingdom. Kimpa Vita’s religious ideology came as an answer to the prayers of many Kongolese people. In her message She combined traditional Kongolese beliefs with Catholicism. Creating her own her own Christian movement, known as Antonianism. She wanted a religious system that was set firmly within Kongo history and geography. From her visions she believed Kongo must reunite under a new king & Antonianism was a way of doing this. Much to the dismay of the Catholic Church, Kimpa Vita quickly attracted a large following of common people, as well as some nobility who flocked to the city, which Kimpa identified as the biblical Bethlehem.

    Rejecting missionary domination over Christianity, she preached that;

    • Kongo was the Holy Land described in the Bible

    • The Kongolese capital, Mbanza Kongo (also known as Sao Salvador) was the real site of Bethlehem
.
    • Jesus was born in Mbanza Kongo and baptized not at Nazareth but in the northern province of Nsundi.
    • Jesus Christ and the other saints were black Africans
    • Mary was a slave of a Kongo marquis.
    • Heaven was for also for Africans
.
    • The European church was not beneficial to Kongolese.

    Kimpa Vita claimed all this had been divulged to her by God. She died every Friday and went to spend the weekend in heaven where she met God personally and discussed such topics as Kongo politics. Indeed, Kimpa Vita’s ideology may seem radical but not if you look at the history of Catholicism and Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo and examine how the people learnt to adapt a foreign religion with their local traditions. They felt that the Christian missionaries were corrupt and unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Kongolese Catholics.

    The History Catholicism in Congo

    The Kingdom of Kongo had been Catholic for two centuries by the time Kimpa Vita was born. In 1491 Nzinga a Nukwu, the king of Kongo at that time, was the first royal to be baptised. However, Nzinga a Nukwu ended up changing his mind and leaving his newly adopted religion after some years, it was his son Afonso I who surely established the church in Kongo and attempted to make the country a Catholic one. Afonso I went further by creating schools that taught European education and Christianity to the nobility. He also had members of the noble class sent to Portugal to further their education and worked with both educated Kongolese and Portuguese priests in his government.

    This tradition continued with Afonso’s son, Henrique becoming the first bishop from sub-saharan Africa in 1518. Christianity grew further in the 16th century particularly under the reigns of Kings Alvaro I and Alvaro II who gave nobles titles such as Count, Duke and Marquis in the European manner. They also brought in relics such as bones of martyrs from Europe and established an embassy in Rome.

    The Kongolese had formed their own brand of Christianity even before Kimpa Vita arrived. At a point in the kingdom’s history, the royalty wanted to create their own bishops and clergy which didn’t go well with the Pope and the Portuguese clergy. All attempts by foreign missionaries to purge local elements from the Kongolese Catholicism were met with resistance and ultimately failed (the same thing happened when the Dutch Calvinists tried to preach their faith).

    The issue may have been that though the Kongolese believed they were worshiping an African God, they were not vocal about it. Missionaries taught the opposite of what Kimpa Vita (and most of the Kongolese population) believed, arguing that heaven was for whites only and that Jesus and all saints were white. Kimpa Vita vocally opposed such ideas and turned them upside down. She fought against the ‘Europeanization’ of Christianity and Kongo. .

    However Kimpa Vita was not only trying to spread a purely African version of Christianity, at the same time she was also trying to bring an end to the civil wars that were weakening the Kingdom of Kongo. Kimpa Vita fought against slavery which was a thriving industry thanks to those numerous wars.

    Death

    Her involvement in politics that eventually led to her fall, when Pedro Constantinho da Silva, a general to the King Pedro IV & a rival to the throne, saw an ally with Kimpa Vita as a means to the throne. Kimpa was now seen as a enemy to King Pedro IV, because of her influence, her allies and her opposition against the Portuguese, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown, was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic and burned at the stake for heresy in the temporary capital of Evululu on July 2, 1706 by forces loyal to Pedro IV under the watchful eyes of the European (Capuchin) missionaries. In 1710, the perpetrators sent a report of their “mission” to the pope, after having organized the persecution of her followers.

    The Anthonian prophetic movement outlasted her death. Her followers continued to believe that she was still alive, and it was only when Pedro IV’s forces took São Salvador in 1709  that the political force of her movement was broken, and most of her former noble adherents renounced their beliefs and rejoined the church.

    Conclusion

    Kongo’s history is even more fascinating because while the people were staunch Catholics, they disliked the invading Portuguese who had brought the religion to them.

    The importance of Kimpa Vita is that she was one of the earliest recorded African women who fought against European Imperialism in the colonial era. Her knowledge and understanding of Kongolese Spirituality, history, culture and Christianity allowed her to see her how European religion was being used manipulate Kongo.

    She used this knowledge to try  to reconcile Christianity with African belief systems to unite & restore the Kingdom of Kongo.

    Legacy

    The Antonian movement, which Kimpa began, outlasted her. The Kongo king Pedro IV used it to unify and renew his kingdom. Her ideas remained among the peasants, appearing in various messianic cults until, two centuries later, it took new form in the preaching of Simon KIMBANGU.

    It is thought that In 1739, some of her followers, sold as slaves in America, carried out the revolt well known as the “Stono rebellion” in South Carolina, and her teachings also may have inspired the action of former Kongo slaves, during the revolt which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804.

    To those who know of her today Kimpa Vita is regarded as a prophetess and a symbol of non-violent resistance in Africa, inspiring many political and religious leaders in Congo and Angola.

    The Importance & Interest Of Her Rehabilitation

    The French people rehabilitated Jeanne d’ Arc (Joan of Arc) five centuries after her death. She then became “Sainte Jeanne d’ Arc”(Saint-Joan of Arc), in spite of the controversy around her life. Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita was a victim of the religious intolerance and racism raging in her country and continent. Despite her accomplishments, Pope Paul VI rejected a request for her rehabilitation in 1966.


    References:
    R. S. Basi, The Black Hand of God, themarked; 2009,

    Thornton, John Kelly. The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

    Online Sources:

    “1706: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the Kongolese Saint Anthony” executedtoday.com, http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/1706-dona-beatriz-kimpa-vita-kongo/ (April 16 2012)

    Brockman, C, N (1994) Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatrice) (African Biographical Dictionary) [Online] available from: http://www.dacb.org/stories/congo/kimpa_vita.html

    EccentricYoruba (2011) “KIMPA VITA & THE KINGDOM OF KONGO” [Online] available from: http://eccentricyoruba.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/kimpa-vita-the-kingdom-of-kongo/

    “kimbangu75” kimbangudiscoveries.com, http://kimbangudiscoveries.com/kimbangu75.html (April 16 2012)

    “Kimpa Vita” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita (April 16 2012)

    “Kimpa Vita” Theblackhandofgod.com, http://www.theblackhandofgod.com/history.html (April 16 2012)

  5. heysoapie: becauseofthiswoman: Name: Ida B. WellsDates: (1862-1931) Why she rocks: She was an African American journalist, and newspaper owner that was an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented the problem of lynching in the United States. She was very active in the women’s rights and women’s suffrage movements, establishing many women’s organizations and touring nationally to speak about them. Quote: “I had an instinctive feeling that the people who have little or no school training should have something coming into their homes weekly which dealt with their problems in a simple, helpful way… so I wrote in a plain, common-sense way on the things that concerned our people.”Because of this woman… important civil rights issues were addressed, and as a result, banned. She was a stepping stone for women’s suffrage and women’s equality. She also rose hell for W.E.B. DuBois in the NAACP because she felt there were too many white women and not enough black women involved. Werk Ida.

    heysoapie:

    becauseofthiswoman:

    Name: Ida B. Wells
    Dates: (1862-1931)

    Why she rocks: She was an African American journalist, and newspaper owner that was an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented the problem of lynching in the United States. She was very active in the women’s rights and women’s suffrage movements, establishing many women’s organizations and touring nationally to speak about them.

    Quote: “I had an instinctive feeling that the people who have little or no school training should have something coming into their homes weekly which dealt with their problems in a simple, helpful way… so I wrote in a plain, common-sense way on the things that concerned our people.”

    Because of this woman… important civil rights issues were addressed, and as a result, banned. She was a stepping stone for women’s suffrage and women’s equality.

    She also rose hell for W.E.B. DuBois in the NAACP because she felt there were too many white women and not enough black women involved. Werk Ida.

    (via lolagetslife)

  6. afrikanwomen: Josephine Bakhita (c. 1869 – 8 February 1947) was a Sudanese-born former slave who became a Roman Catholic Canossian nun in Italy. She was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She was born about 1869 in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. She belonged to the prestigious Daju people. She was surrounded by a loving family; as she says in her autobiography: “I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was”. Sometime between the age of seven to nine, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders, who already had kidnapped her elder sister two years earlier. She was cruelly forced to walk about 960 kilometers (600 mi) to El Obeid on her bare feet . It is said that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her own name; she took one given to her by the slavers, bakhita. She was also forcibly converted to Islam […] Read more On 7 December 1893 she entered the novitiate of the Canossian Sisters and on 8 December 1896 she took her vows, welcomed by the future Pope Pius X. In 1902 she was assigned to the Canossian convent at Schio, in the northern Italian province of Vicenza, where she spent the rest of her life. A strong missionary drive animated her throughout her entire life - “her mind was always on God, and her heart in Africa”. Her last years were marked by pain and sickness. She used a wheelchair, but she retained her cheerfulness.  Bakhita died on 8 February 1947. For three days her body lay on display while thousands of people arrived to pay their respects. A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today”. On 1 December 1978, Pope John Paul II declared Josephine Venerabilis, the first step towards canonization. On 17 May 1992, she was declared Blessed and given February 8 as her feast day. On 1 October 2000, she was canonized and became Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is venerated as a modern African saint, and as a statement against the brutal history of slavery. She has been adopted as the only patron saint of Sudan. Full biography

    afrikanwomen:

    Josephine Bakhita (c. 1869 – 8 February 1947) was a Sudanese-born former slave who became a Roman Catholic Canossian nun in Italy. She was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

    She was born about 1869 in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. She belonged to the prestigious Daju people. She was surrounded by a loving family; as she says in her autobiography: “I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was”.

    Sometime between the age of seven to nine, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders, who already had kidnapped her elder sister two years earlier. She was cruelly forced to walk about 960 kilometers (600 mi) to El Obeid on her bare feet . It is said that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her own name; she took one given to her by the slavers, bakhita. She was also forcibly converted to Islam […] Read more

    On 7 December 1893 she entered the novitiate of the Canossian Sisters and on 8 December 1896 she took her vows, welcomed by the future Pope Pius X. In 1902 she was assigned to the Canossian convent at Schio, in the northern Italian province of Vicenza, where she spent the rest of her life. A strong missionary drive animated her throughout her entire life - “her mind was always on God, and her heart in Africa”.

    Her last years were marked by pain and sickness. She used a wheelchair, but she retained her cheerfulness. 

    Bakhita died on 8 February 1947. For three days her body lay on display while thousands of people arrived to pay their respects.

    A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today”.

    On 1 December 1978, Pope John Paul II declared Josephine Venerabilis, the first step towards canonization. On 17 May 1992, she was declared Blessed and given February 8 as her feast day. On 1 October 2000, she was canonized and became Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is venerated as a modern African saint, and as a statement against the brutal history of slavery. She has been adopted as the only patron saint of Sudan.

    Full biography

  7. fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.
    fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.
    fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979. fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.
    fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.
    fyeahblackhistory: The Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards. Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle. The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey. From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. Conflict with France European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.

    fyeahblackhistory:

    The Dahomey Amazons

    The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks.

    King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards.

    Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle.

    The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey.
    From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army.

    The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun.

    The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated.

    Conflict with France
    European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.

  8. blackloveisabeautifulthing: Her Words As Witness:  Women Writers of the African Diaspora Opening Reception:  Thursday, December 1, 2011, 6-8pm, Skylight Gallery, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, USA. The exhibit will feature 35 photographic portraits by Brooklyn-based photographer, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, of some of today’s most compelling writers, along with excerpts from their works.  Those featured, include award-winning Haitian novelist and essayist, Edwidge Danticat (as one of her publications is shown here); who the New York Times credits with increasing America’s understanding of the Haitian immigrant.  The exhibition will promote a personal and community dialogue about the artists, race, sexism, literature, love and other issues.  For more information, call (718) 636-6949. womenwritersopen

    blackloveisabeautifulthing:

    Her Words As Witness:  Women Writers of the African Diaspora

    Opening Reception:  Thursday, December 1, 2011, 6-8pm, Skylight Gallery, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

    The exhibit will feature 35 photographic portraits by Brooklyn-based photographer, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, of some of today’s most compelling writers, along with excerpts from their works.  Those featured, include award-winning Haitian novelist and essayist, Edwidge Danticat (as one of her publications is shown here); who the New York Times credits with increasing America’s understanding of the Haitian immigrant.  The exhibition will promote a personal and community dialogue about the artists, race, sexism, literature, love and other issues.  For more information, call (718) 636-6949.

    womenwritersopen


    (via lati-negros)

  9. mfura: Mariama Bâ (1929–1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticise what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from African traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ later married a Senegalese member of Parliament, Obèye Diop, but divorced him and was left to care for their nine children. Her frustration with the fate of African women as well as her ultimate acceptance of it is expressed in her first novel, So Long a Letter. In it she depicts the sorrow and resignation of a woman who must share the mourning for her late husband with his second, younger wife. Abiola Irele called it “the most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction”. This short book was awarded the first Noma Prize for Publishing in Africa in 1980. Bâ was a prominent law student at school. During the colonial revolution period and later, girls faced numerous obstacles when they wanted to have a higher education. Bâ’s grandparents did not plan to educate her beyond primary school. However, her father’s insistence on giving her an opportunity to continue her studies eventually persuaded them. In a teacher training college based in Rufisque, she won the first prize in the entrance examination and entered the Ecole Normale. In this institution, she was prepared for later career as a school teacher. The school’s principal began to prepare her for the 1943 entrance examination to a teaching career after he noticed Bâ’s intellect and capacity. She taught from 1947 to 1959, before transferring to the Regional Inspectorate of teaching as an educational inspector. Bâ’s source of determination and commitment to the feminist cause stemmed from her background, her parent’s life and her schooling. Her contribution is of absolute importance in modern African studies since she was among the first to illustrate the disadvantaged position of women in African society. Bâ’s work focused on the grandmother, the mother, the sister, the daughter, the cousin and the friend, how they all deserve the title “mother of Africa”, and how important they are for the society. Bâ was active in women’s associations. She also ardently promoted education. She defended women’s rights, delivered speeches, and wrote articles in local newspapers. Thus, Mariama’s contribution is significant because she explained and described the disadvantaged position of women in general and especially married women. mfura: Mariama Bâ (1929–1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticise what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from African traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ later married a Senegalese member of Parliament, Obèye Diop, but divorced him and was left to care for their nine children. Her frustration with the fate of African women as well as her ultimate acceptance of it is expressed in her first novel, So Long a Letter. In it she depicts the sorrow and resignation of a woman who must share the mourning for her late husband with his second, younger wife. Abiola Irele called it “the most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction”. This short book was awarded the first Noma Prize for Publishing in Africa in 1980. Bâ was a prominent law student at school. During the colonial revolution period and later, girls faced numerous obstacles when they wanted to have a higher education. Bâ’s grandparents did not plan to educate her beyond primary school. However, her father’s insistence on giving her an opportunity to continue her studies eventually persuaded them. In a teacher training college based in Rufisque, she won the first prize in the entrance examination and entered the Ecole Normale. In this institution, she was prepared for later career as a school teacher. The school’s principal began to prepare her for the 1943 entrance examination to a teaching career after he noticed Bâ’s intellect and capacity. She taught from 1947 to 1959, before transferring to the Regional Inspectorate of teaching as an educational inspector. Bâ’s source of determination and commitment to the feminist cause stemmed from her background, her parent’s life and her schooling. Her contribution is of absolute importance in modern African studies since she was among the first to illustrate the disadvantaged position of women in African society. Bâ’s work focused on the grandmother, the mother, the sister, the daughter, the cousin and the friend, how they all deserve the title “mother of Africa”, and how important they are for the society. Bâ was active in women’s associations. She also ardently promoted education. She defended women’s rights, delivered speeches, and wrote articles in local newspapers. Thus, Mariama’s contribution is significant because she explained and described the disadvantaged position of women in general and especially married women.

    mfura:

    Mariama Bâ (1929–1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticise what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from African traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ later married a Senegalese member of Parliament, Obèye Diop, but divorced him and was left to care for their nine children.

    Her frustration with the fate of African women as well as her ultimate acceptance of it is expressed in her first novel, So Long a Letter. In it she depicts the sorrow and resignation of a woman who must share the mourning for her late husband with his second, younger wife. Abiola Irele called it “the most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction”. This short book was awarded the first Noma Prize for Publishing in Africa in 1980.

    Bâ was a prominent law student at school. During the colonial revolution period and later, girls faced numerous obstacles when they wanted to have a higher education. Bâ’s grandparents did not plan to educate her beyond primary school. However, her father’s insistence on giving her an opportunity to continue her studies eventually persuaded them.

    In a teacher training college based in Rufisque, she won the first prize in the entrance examination and entered the Ecole Normale. In this institution, she was prepared for later career as a school teacher. The school’s principal began to prepare her for the 1943 entrance examination to a teaching career after he noticed Bâ’s intellect and capacity. She taught from 1947 to 1959, before transferring to the Regional Inspectorate of teaching as an educational inspector.

    Bâ’s source of determination and commitment to the feminist cause stemmed from her background, her parent’s life and her schooling. Her contribution is of absolute importance in modern African studies since she was among the first to illustrate the disadvantaged position of women in African society. Bâ’s work focused on the grandmother, the mother, the sister, the daughter, the cousin and the friend, how they all deserve the title “mother of Africa”, and how important they are for the society.

    Bâ was active in women’s associations. She also ardently promoted education. She defended women’s rights, delivered speeches, and wrote articles in local newspapers. Thus, Mariama’s contribution is significant because she explained and described the disadvantaged position of women in general and especially married women.

  10. nok-ind: The Earliest example of Mathematics in the world found in Africa dated between 35,000-20,000 years old. Two artifacts found in Africa represent the earliest and oldest examples of mathematical structure in human History. They are the Lebombo bone and the Ishango bone. The first being the Lebombo Bone found during the early 1970’s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland Dated back to 35,000 years. The second oldest is the Ishango bone, a bone tool handle made from the fibula of a baboon, found in 1958 in Congo which is dated back to at least 20,000 years. The Ishango bone  The Ishango bone  Has an ‘arrangement of the notches engraved on the handle of the bone, and the numbers in each group, these numbers are clearly not casual. Analysis of their numerological properties led people to conclude that the artifact is not a simple tally stick, but a kind of calculator based on special number systems. Each of the groupings in the left and right columns contains an odd number of notches (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21), while the numbers contained in the first column are precisely the four prime numbers between 10 and 20. From facts such as these it is thought that the groupings represent numbers and the whole design represents a system of reckoning based upon counting by digits. It has also thought that the bone could have been used for time reckoning, following the observable course of the moon over a period of about 5½ synodic (lunar phase cycle) months, based on a period of a double lunation of 59–60 days. Women May have been the first to use mathematics. One theory has been proposed stating the question “who but a woman keeping track of her cycles would need a lunar calendar?” and concludes that “women may have been undoubtedly the first mathematicians!”. since keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar. The Lebombo bone The Lebombo bone was discovered much later and is a small piece of the fibula of baboon bone marked with 29 clearly defined notches. It  ”resembles calendar sticks still in use today by Bushmen clans in Namibia” . References: ICOMOS–IAU (2011)“Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study”{Astronomy and World Heritage }  [online] Available from: http://www.astronomicalheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=33  Weblinks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_09.html#2 http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/ishango.html http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/science/numbers.htm http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html
    nok-ind: The Earliest example of Mathematics in the world found in Africa dated between 35,000-20,000 years old. Two artifacts found in Africa represent the earliest and oldest examples of mathematical structure in human History. They are the Lebombo bone and the Ishango bone. The first being the Lebombo Bone found during the early 1970’s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland Dated back to 35,000 years. The second oldest is the Ishango bone, a bone tool handle made from the fibula of a baboon, found in 1958 in Congo which is dated back to at least 20,000 years. The Ishango bone  The Ishango bone  Has an ‘arrangement of the notches engraved on the handle of the bone, and the numbers in each group, these numbers are clearly not casual. Analysis of their numerological properties led people to conclude that the artifact is not a simple tally stick, but a kind of calculator based on special number systems. Each of the groupings in the left and right columns contains an odd number of notches (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21), while the numbers contained in the first column are precisely the four prime numbers between 10 and 20. From facts such as these it is thought that the groupings represent numbers and the whole design represents a system of reckoning based upon counting by digits. It has also thought that the bone could have been used for time reckoning, following the observable course of the moon over a period of about 5½ synodic (lunar phase cycle) months, based on a period of a double lunation of 59–60 days. Women May have been the first to use mathematics. One theory has been proposed stating the question “who but a woman keeping track of her cycles would need a lunar calendar?” and concludes that “women may have been undoubtedly the first mathematicians!”. since keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar. The Lebombo bone The Lebombo bone was discovered much later and is a small piece of the fibula of baboon bone marked with 29 clearly defined notches. It  ”resembles calendar sticks still in use today by Bushmen clans in Namibia” . References: ICOMOS–IAU (2011)“Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study”{Astronomy and World Heritage }  [online] Available from: http://www.astronomicalheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=33  Weblinks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_09.html#2 http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/ishango.html http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/science/numbers.htm http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html nok-ind: The Earliest example of Mathematics in the world found in Africa dated between 35,000-20,000 years old. Two artifacts found in Africa represent the earliest and oldest examples of mathematical structure in human History. They are the Lebombo bone and the Ishango bone. The first being the Lebombo Bone found during the early 1970’s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland Dated back to 35,000 years. The second oldest is the Ishango bone, a bone tool handle made from the fibula of a baboon, found in 1958 in Congo which is dated back to at least 20,000 years. The Ishango bone  The Ishango bone  Has an ‘arrangement of the notches engraved on the handle of the bone, and the numbers in each group, these numbers are clearly not casual. Analysis of their numerological properties led people to conclude that the artifact is not a simple tally stick, but a kind of calculator based on special number systems. Each of the groupings in the left and right columns contains an odd number of notches (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21), while the numbers contained in the first column are precisely the four prime numbers between 10 and 20. From facts such as these it is thought that the groupings represent numbers and the whole design represents a system of reckoning based upon counting by digits. It has also thought that the bone could have been used for time reckoning, following the observable course of the moon over a period of about 5½ synodic (lunar phase cycle) months, based on a period of a double lunation of 59–60 days. Women May have been the first to use mathematics. One theory has been proposed stating the question “who but a woman keeping track of her cycles would need a lunar calendar?” and concludes that “women may have been undoubtedly the first mathematicians!”. since keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar. The Lebombo bone The Lebombo bone was discovered much later and is a small piece of the fibula of baboon bone marked with 29 clearly defined notches. It  ”resembles calendar sticks still in use today by Bushmen clans in Namibia” . References: ICOMOS–IAU (2011)“Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study”{Astronomy and World Heritage }  [online] Available from: http://www.astronomicalheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=33  Weblinks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_09.html#2 http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/ishango.html http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/science/numbers.htm http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html
    nok-ind: The Earliest example of Mathematics in the world found in Africa dated between 35,000-20,000 years old. Two artifacts found in Africa represent the earliest and oldest examples of mathematical structure in human History. They are the Lebombo bone and the Ishango bone. The first being the Lebombo Bone found during the early 1970’s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland Dated back to 35,000 years. The second oldest is the Ishango bone, a bone tool handle made from the fibula of a baboon, found in 1958 in Congo which is dated back to at least 20,000 years. The Ishango bone  The Ishango bone  Has an ‘arrangement of the notches engraved on the handle of the bone, and the numbers in each group, these numbers are clearly not casual. Analysis of their numerological properties led people to conclude that the artifact is not a simple tally stick, but a kind of calculator based on special number systems. Each of the groupings in the left and right columns contains an odd number of notches (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21), while the numbers contained in the first column are precisely the four prime numbers between 10 and 20. From facts such as these it is thought that the groupings represent numbers and the whole design represents a system of reckoning based upon counting by digits. It has also thought that the bone could have been used for time reckoning, following the observable course of the moon over a period of about 5½ synodic (lunar phase cycle) months, based on a period of a double lunation of 59–60 days. Women May have been the first to use mathematics. One theory has been proposed stating the question “who but a woman keeping track of her cycles would need a lunar calendar?” and concludes that “women may have been undoubtedly the first mathematicians!”. since keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar. The Lebombo bone The Lebombo bone was discovered much later and is a small piece of the fibula of baboon bone marked with 29 clearly defined notches. It  ”resembles calendar sticks still in use today by Bushmen clans in Namibia” . References: ICOMOS–IAU (2011)“Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study”{Astronomy and World Heritage }  [online] Available from: http://www.astronomicalheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=33  Weblinks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_09.html#2 http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/ishango.html http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/science/numbers.htm http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html

    nok-ind:

    The Earliest example of Mathematics in the world found in Africa dated between 35,000-20,000 years old.

    Two artifacts found in Africa represent the earliest and oldest examples of mathematical structure in human History. They are the Lebombo bone and the Ishango bone. The first being the Lebombo Bone found during the early 1970’s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland Dated back to 35,000 years. The second oldest is the Ishango bone, a bone tool handle made from the fibula of a baboon, found in 1958 in Congo which is dated back to at least 20,000 years.

    The Ishango bone

     The Ishango bone  Has an ‘arrangement of the notches engraved on the handle of the bone, and the numbers in each group, these numbers are clearly not casual. Analysis of their numerological properties led people to conclude that the artifact is not a simple tally stick, but a kind of calculator based on special number systems. Each of the groupings in the left and right columns contains an odd number of notches (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21), while the numbers contained in the first column are precisely the four prime numbers between 10 and 20. From facts such as these it is thought that the groupings represent numbers and the whole design represents a system of reckoning based upon counting by digits. It has also thought that the bone could have been used for time reckoning, following the observable course of the moon over a period of about 5½ synodic (lunar phase cycle) months, based on a period of a double lunation of 59–60 days.

    Women May have been the first to use mathematics.

    One theory has been proposed stating the question “who but a woman keeping track of her cycles would need a lunar calendar?” and concludes that “women may have been undoubtedly the first mathematicians!”. since keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar.

    The Lebombo bone

    The Lebombo bone was discovered much later and is a small piece of the fibula of baboon bone marked with 29 clearly defined notches. It  ”resembles calendar sticks still in use today by Bushmen clans in Namibia” .

    References:

    ICOMOS–IAU (2011)“Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study”{Astronomy and World Heritage }  [online] Available from: http://www.astronomicalheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=33 

    Weblinks:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone

    http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_09.html#2

    http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/ishango.html

    http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/science/numbers.htm

    http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html

  11. fyeahblackhistory:

    African Queens

    Excerpt from Max Dashu’s Women’s Power dvd, from the suppressed Histories Archives

    Africa is rich in positive female history and famous for its queens.

    Queen Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Nzingha, Queen Hapersheput, Queen Nefetari and Queen Cleopatra.

    adapted from a post originally from afrodesiac:

    http://afrodesiac.tumblr.com/

  12. Nobel Peace Prize: Three Winners: Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman | World News |

  13. The Kandakes of Kush. Kandake, also known as Candace, Kendake or Kentake was the title for queens and queen mothers of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush, also known as Nubia and Ethiopia. They were known as Nubian warrior queens, queen regents, and Ruling queen mothers. They controlled what is now Ethiopia, Sudan, and parts of Egypt. They co-ruled the Meroitic with their brothers (not their husbands), a trait of matrilineal societies. They were buried with rich treasure in their own pyramids. Reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal Kandake Shanakdakheto, dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. Reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit the throne by her passing. One of the most well known Kandakes was Amanishakheto known for defeating the Roman invasion of Nubia by Augustus and subsequently brokering a favorable peace treaty. Conclusion The “Kandakes/Candaces” serve as examples of women as powerful figures or clever strategists in their roles as queens, as warrior queens, or as romantic figures, they have had great appeal in times past, and will continue to do so in this present era of feminist or humanist interest in the subject. Click here for more References: Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic Cultural History - Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Professor of Anthropology, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston U.S.A, August 20-26, 1998

    The Kandakes of Kush.

    Kandake, also known as Candace, Kendake or Kentake was the title for queens and queen mothers of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush, also known as Nubia and Ethiopia.

    They were known as Nubian warrior queens, queen regents, and Ruling queen mothers. They controlled what is now Ethiopia, Sudan, and parts of Egypt. They co-ruled the Meroitic with their brothers (not their husbands), a trait of matrilineal societies. They were buried with rich treasure in their own pyramids.

    Reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal Kandake Shanakdakheto, dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. Reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit the throne by her passing.

    One of the most well known Kandakes was Amanishakheto known for defeating the Roman invasion of Nubia by Augustus and subsequently brokering a favorable peace treaty.

    Conclusion

    The “Kandakes/Candaces” serve as examples of women as powerful figures or clever strategists in their roles as queens, as warrior queens, or as romantic figures, they have had great appeal in times past, and will continue to do so in this present era of feminist or humanist interest in the subject.

    Click here for more

    References: Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic Cultural History - Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Professor of Anthropology, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston U.S.A, August 20-26, 1998

  14. Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic Cultural History

  15. Women’s liberation and African freedom struggle Thomas Sankara Below is an excerpt from Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for January. Sankara was the central leader of the popular democratic revolution in the West African country of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987. This excerpt is from a talk he gave to several thousand women commemorating International Women’s Day on March 8, 1987, in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital. BY THOMAS SANKARA  ‘The question of women’s equality must be in the minds of all decision-makers, at all times, and in all the different phases of conceiving and executing plans for development. Conceiving a development project without the participation of women is like using only four fingers when you have ten. It’s an invitation to failure.In the ministries responsible for education, we should take special care to assure that women’s access to education is a reality, for this reality constitutes a qualitative step toward emancipation. It is an obvious fact that wherever women have had access to education, their march to equality has been accelerated. Emerging from the darkness of ignorance allows women to take up and use the tools of knowledge in order to place themselves at the disposal of society. All ridiculous and backward concepts that hold that only education for males is important and profitable, and that educating women is an extravagance, must disappear in Burkina Faso.Parents should accord the same attention to the progress of their daughters at school as they do to their sons, their pride and joy. Girls have proven they are the equals of boys at school, if not simply better. But above all they have the right to education in order to learn and know—to be free. In future literacy campaigns, the rate of participation by women must be raised to correspond with their numerical weight in the population. It would be too great an injustice to maintain such an important part of the population—half of it—in ignorance.In the ministries responsible for labor and justice, texts should constantly be adapted to the transformation our society has been going through since August 4, 1983, so that equality between men and women is a tangible reality. The new labor code, now being drawn up and debated, should express how profoundly our people aspire to social justice. It should mark an important stage in the work of destroying the neocolonial state apparatus—a class apparatus fashioned and shaped by reactionary regimes to perpetuate the system that oppressed the popular masses, especially women.How can we continue to accept that a woman doing the same job as a man should earn less? Can we accept the levirate* and dowries, which reduce our sisters and mothers to common commodities to be bartered for? There are so many things that medieval laws continue to impose on our people, on women. It is only just that, finally, justice be done….As we go forward, our society should break from all those feudal conceptions that lead to ostracizing the unmarried woman, without realizing that this is merely another form of appropriation, which decrees each woman to be the property of a man. This is why young mothers are looked down upon as if they were the only ones responsible for their situation, whereas there is always a guilty man involved. This is how childless women are oppressed due to antiquated beliefs, when there is a scientific explanation for their infertility, which science can overcome.In addition, society has imposed on women norms of beauty that violate the integrity of their bodies, such as female circumcision, scarring, the filing of teeth, and the piercing of lips and noses. Practicing these norms of beauty is of dubious value. In the case of female circumcision, it can even endanger a woman’s ability to have children and her love life. Other types of bodily mutilation, though less dangerous, such as the piercing of ears and tattoos, are no less an expression of women’s conditioning, imposed by society if a woman wants to find a husband. Comrade militants, you look after yourselves in order to win a husband. You pierce your ears and do violence to your body in order to be acceptable to men. You hurt yourselves so that men can hurt you even more! …Comrades, no revolution—starting with our own—will triumph as long as women are not free. Our struggle, our revolution will be incomplete as long as we understand liberation to mean essentially that of men. After the liberation of the proletariat, there remains the liberation of women.Comrades, every woman is the mother of a man. I would not presume, as a man and as a son, to give advice to a woman or to indicate which road she should take. This would be like giving advice to one’s own mother. But we know, too, that out of indulgence and affection, a mother listens to her son, despite his whims, his dreams, and his vanity. And this is what consoles me and makes it possible for me to address you here. This is why, comrades, we need you in order to achieve the genuine liberation of us all. I know you will always find the strength and the time to help us save our society.Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women’s silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt. I await and hope for the fertile eruption of the revolution through which they will transmit the strength and the rigorous justice issued from their oppressed wombs.Comrades, forward to conquer the future.The future is revolutionary.The future belongs to those who struggle.Homeland or death, we will win!’ Click here for more on the writer

    Women’s liberation and African freedom struggle
    Thomas Sankara
     
    Below is an excerpt from Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for January. Sankara was the central leader of the popular democratic revolution in the West African country of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987. This excerpt is from a talk he gave to several thousand women commemorating International Women’s Day on March 8, 1987, in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital.

    BY THOMAS SANKARA 
    ‘The question of women’s equality must be in the minds of all decision-makers, at all times, and in all the different phases of conceiving and executing plans for development. Conceiving a development project without the participation of women is like using only four fingers when you have ten. It’s an invitation to failure.

    In the ministries responsible for education, we should take special care to assure that women’s access to education is a reality, for this reality constitutes a qualitative step toward emancipation. It is an obvious fact that wherever women have had access to education, their march to equality has been accelerated. Emerging from the darkness of ignorance allows women to take up and use the tools of knowledge in order to place themselves at the disposal of society. All ridiculous and backward concepts that hold that only education for males is important and profitable, and that educating women is an extravagance, must disappear in Burkina Faso.

    Parents should accord the same attention to the progress of their daughters at school as they do to their sons, their pride and joy. Girls have proven they are the equals of boys at school, if not simply better. But above all they have the right to education in order to learn and know—to be free. In future literacy campaigns, the rate of participation by women must be raised to correspond with their numerical weight in the population. It would be too great an injustice to maintain such an important part of the population—half of it—in ignorance.

    In the ministries responsible for labor and justice, texts should constantly be adapted to the transformation our society has been going through since August 4, 1983, so that equality between men and women is a tangible reality. The new labor code, now being drawn up and debated, should express how profoundly our people aspire to social justice. It should mark an important stage in the work of destroying the neocolonial state apparatus—a class apparatus fashioned and shaped by reactionary regimes to perpetuate the system that oppressed the popular masses, especially women.

    How can we continue to accept that a woman doing the same job as a man should earn less? Can we accept the levirate* and dowries, which reduce our sisters and mothers to common commodities to be bartered for? There are so many things that medieval laws continue to impose on our people, on women. It is only just that, finally, justice be done….

    As we go forward, our society should break from all those feudal conceptions that lead to ostracizing the unmarried woman, without realizing that this is merely another form of appropriation, which decrees each woman to be the property of a man. This is why young mothers are looked down upon as if they were the only ones responsible for their situation, whereas there is always a guilty man involved. This is how childless women are oppressed due to antiquated beliefs, when there is a scientific explanation for their infertility, which science can overcome.

    In addition, society has imposed on women norms of beauty that violate the integrity of their bodies, such as female circumcision, scarring, the filing of teeth, and the piercing of lips and noses. Practicing these norms of beauty is of dubious value. In the case of female circumcision, it can even endanger a woman’s ability to have children and her love life. Other types of bodily mutilation, though less dangerous, such as the piercing of ears and tattoos, are no less an expression of women’s conditioning, imposed by society if a woman wants to find a husband. Comrade militants, you look after yourselves in order to win a husband. You pierce your ears and do violence to your body in order to be acceptable to men. You hurt yourselves so that men can hurt you even more! …

    Comrades, no revolution—starting with our own—will triumph as long as women are not free. Our struggle, our revolution will be incomplete as long as we understand liberation to mean essentially that of men. After the liberation of the proletariat, there remains the liberation of women.

    Comrades, every woman is the mother of a man. I would not presume, as a man and as a son, to give advice to a woman or to indicate which road she should take. This would be like giving advice to one’s own mother. But we know, too, that out of indulgence and affection, a mother listens to her son, despite his whims, his dreams, and his vanity. And this is what consoles me and makes it possible for me to address you here. This is why, comrades, we need you in order to achieve the genuine liberation of us all. I know you will always find the strength and the time to help us save our society.

    Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women’s silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt. I await and hope for the fertile eruption of the revolution through which they will transmit the strength and the rigorous justice issued from their oppressed wombs.

    Comrades, forward to conquer the future.
    The future is revolutionary.
    The future belongs to those who struggle.
    Homeland or death, we will win!’

    Click here for more on the writer