WOMEN OF AFRICA: THE KEY TO CIVILIZATION

Approximately two decades ago scientists stunned the world with findings, based on genetic research, that the entirety of humanity can trace its origin to a single woman who lived in Africa some 150 000 years ago; she has been dubbed “The Real Eve”.   This evidence has further cemented the reality that all people and civilizations come from Africa, indeed Black people.  However, it also sheds light on the importance of women to the development and sustaining of civilization.  The focus of this paper will be to discuss not only how Black women have birthed civilization but what their roles have been in establishing the foundation for all of humanity.  To properly understand the role of women in relation to themselves, to men, and to the community one must look at Africa before colonization and slavery so as to better understand how these institutions have distorted and destroyed the traditional ways of knowing and living. Furthermore, one can then understand how women have played an integral role in fighting and destroying these institutions.

THE GODDESSES

To understand the history of Africa properly and the attitudes toward women one must start by looking at women in divinity.  The significance here is that Africa is the first place in the world where women were worshipped as goddesses; the most popular being that of Aset or more commonly known by her Greek name Isis.  Tara L. Kneller shows that in Nubia and Kemet (Egypt), starting from approximately 3100 B.C., the religious group of Aset had a tremendous and devoted following.  Aset was not only the Kemetic goddess of magical powers; she was the representation of the queen mother.  Although Aset, her husband Asar (Osiris), and their son Heru (Horus) are then established as the trinity, Aset immediately became the most popular of the three. This can be partially attributed to her role as the devoted and untiring nurturer of the land and culture of Kemet and Nubia.  This also explains why the followers of Aset were the strongest religion in Nubia.   Furthermore, she was worshipped throughout the ancient world in Greece, Rome and beyond.  Known under many names, she was the "Queen of Heaven" and the "Goddess from whom all becoming arose."  The worship of her survives today, disguised as the worship of the Black Madonna throughout Catholic Europe.  Even further, Aset has been identified with several Black goddess figures of the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean and Near East, including the Phrygian Cybele, the Sumerian Inanna, the Syrian Anath, the Hebrew Lilith, the Indian Kali, and the Ephesian Diana.

Another Goddess of significance is that of Nit (Net, Neit, Neith).  She was the pre-dynastic goddess of war and weaving, the goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Kemet and the patron goddess of Zau (Sau, Sai, Sais) in the Delta.  In later times she was also thought to have been a creation deity who had both male and female attributes.  The Kemetic people believed her to be an ancient and wise goddess, to whom the other gods came if they could not resolve their own disputes.  Generally depicted as a woman, Nit was shown either wearing her emblem - either a shield crossed with two arrows, or a weaving shuttle - or the Red Crown of Lower Kemet.  She was also often shown carrying a bow and arrows, linking her to hunting and warfare, or a sceptre and the ankh sign of life.

THE ORIGINAL ROYALTY

Following the line of divinity, one can also see how Africa was the first place in the world to have women in positions of power as the leaders of nations. Queen Tiye was the beloved wife of Nebmare Amenhotep III, and the mother of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen. Tiye is one of the most interesting figures in history. Amenhotep and Tiye married while quite young and shared one of the great love affairs of the ages.  That she was of great ability and powerful influence is proved by association with her husband in all of his ceremonial records.  She was such an integral part of Kemetic affairs that on more than one occasion foreign sovereigns appealed to her directly in matters of international significance.

Royal women exerted considerable power in West Africa.  The queen mothers often chose the next king, acted as counselors, and in some cases had their own judicial courts, officers and warriors. More than one of these queens deposed their own sons. The seven original states of Hausaland: Katsina, Daura, Kano, Zazzau, Gobir, Rano, and Garun Gabas cover an area of approximately 500 square miles and comprise the heart of Hausaland. In the sixteenth century, Queen Bakwa Turunku built the capital of Zazzau at Zaria, named after her younger daughter. Eventually, the entire state of Zazzau was renamed Zaria, which is now a province in present-day Nigeria.   However it was her elder daughter, the legendary Amina (or Aminatu), who inherited her mother's warlike nature.  Amina was 16 years old when her mother became queen and she was given the traditional title of magajiya.  She honed her military skills and became famous for her bravery and military exploits, as she is celebrated in song as "Amina daughter of Nikatau, a woman as capable as a man."  Amina is credited as the architect who created the strong earthen walls around the city, which was the prototype for the fortifications used in all Hausa states.  She built many of these fortifications, which became known as ganuwar Amina or Amina's walls, around various conquered cities.

WOMEN IN REVOLUTION

Probably the most hailed and contemporary example of women’s role in Africa is their direct involvement in fighting for the liberation of Africa from foreign invaders.  Dahia al-Kahina of Mauritania was especially active in the North African resistance to the Arab invasions that occurred at the end of the seventh century. About 690 A.D. she assumed personal command of the African forces, and under her aggressive leadership the Arabs were briefly forced to retreat.  The Arab invaders of Africa were relentless, however, and as the African plight deteriorated, the dauntless Kahina ordered a scorched earth policy. The effects of the devastation can still be seen in the North African countryside.  According to tradition, Kahina eventually took her own life rather than admit defeat to the Arabs.  With her death ended a magnificent attempt to preserve Africa for the Africans.

Ngola Ann Nzinga Mbande was a 17th century queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southwestern Africa.  Her royal title in the Kimbundu language, Ngola, was from "Ngola", which the Portuguese took as the name for the colony of Angola.  Nzinga first appears in the historical record as the envoy of her brother, the Ngola Ngoli Bbondi, at a peace conference with the Portuguese governor in Luanda.  After years of Portuguese incursions to capture slaves and intermittent bloody battles, Nzinga was able to negotiate a treaty of equal terms.  Ultimately the Portuguese broke the treaty, which she objected to.  In resistance, she welcomed slaves that had runaway from the Portuguese colony and she called on Africans under Portuguese rule to rebel and she acquired African soldiers who had been trained by the Portuguese.  The Portuguese drove her from Ndongo and replaced her with a puppet ruler.  Nzinga and her army fled north and conquered the kingdom of Matamba, from which she continued to war against the Portuguese.

During the post-World War II period women continued to play a vital role in fighting for African liberation.  The Kikuyu women of Kenya ensured that the Mau Mau rebellion endured by providing supplies, information, food, medicine, and guns that flowed from the town and reserves to the forests.  Women were actively involved in information gathering by spying on colonial troops with the purpose of obtaining government secrets.  The information was of such crucial significance that many times it was the only form of communication for the guerillas.

In Mozambique, women were effective mobilizers for the Frelimo Party during the 1960’s. The basic strategy was to convert women to the cause so they in turn could convince their husbands to join and fight.  Moreover, as women members became increasingly large they were able to put pressure on the men to fight as guerillas.  Subjected to the same training as men, women were used to defend liberated areas and fight alongside men in combat.

WHAT IS TO BE LEARNED?

When studying the history of Africa and its people properly we come to understand not only the foundation of civilization but an innate understanding of life and nature.  It is important to understand that an intrinsic value of pre-colonial Africa is that men and women are created differently with differing roles and responsibilities.  A cursory look at post-colonial Africa also allows us to see that there has always been an understanding of this and an attempt to re-create this reality.  Furthermore, it must be understood that the ideologies surrounding these roles and responsibilities have constantly been challenged and changed to fit the reality of the times; this constant transformation has been initiated and actualized by the men and women of Africa without the influence of non-Black people.  However, it has become increasingly difficult for Black people in Africa and the diaspora to engage in an honest evaluation of communal practices in today’s world where infiltration by the enemies of Africa and its people is a constant reality.  Nevertheless, the changing realities of women in Africa have always been in partnership with men and, where necessary, directly challenging and overthrowing unjust domination.