African Women Who Fought for Anti-colonialism
4 women in the archive worked for anti-colonialism. They came from different countries and different centuries, but each of them saw a wrong that others accepted and set out to change it. Read their stories to see how the same cause looked from very different lives.
4 women in the archive
ModernConstance Cummings-John
Sierra Leonean politician and educator who became the first female mayor of a city in Africa when she was elected Mayor of Freetown in 1966. She spent her life fighting for women's political rights and access to education at a time when both were considered radical ideas.
Pre-ColonialDihya
Berber warrior queen and military leader who commanded a coalition of North African tribes against the Arab conquest of North Africa in the late 7th century. She held off one of the most powerful military forces in the medieval world for years. Also known as Kahina, meaning prophetess, she remains one of the most celebrated symbols of Algerian and Berber identity.
IndependenceGisèle Rabesahala
Madagascar's pioneering stateswoman: at 17 she joined the nationalist struggle, at 27 became the first Malagasy woman to lead a political party, and in 1977 became the country's first woman government minister.
ColonialMabel Dove Danquah
Ghanaian journalist and satirist who, in 1954, became the first woman elected to any African legislative assembly, after two decades of skewering colonial power in the press under a rotation of witty pen names.