​The Freedom Train Network is celebrating black women for the entire month of May. So we will be celebrating and teaching you about great black women of the African diaspora. This episode we are focusing on the Mino Warriors of Dahomey.

The third king of Dahomey, King Houegbadja ruled from 1645 to 1685, and is created with creating the legendary all-woman Fon of Dahomey. The original purpose of this all female regime was to become ‘gbeto’, or elephant hunters for the king. Around the early 1700’s during the reign of King Agadja, the women were trained to become a unit of guards for the king. They were also called The Mino, which means ‘Our Mothers’ in the native Fon language of Benin. The legend of the Mino began to grow during the battle at Savi in 1727. The women showed their impressive skills which helped the Fon people gain a victory over their opponents. Their presence increased the size and the intimidation factor of the kings Army.

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The Freedom Train Network is celebrating black women for the entire month of May. So we will be celebrating and teaching you about great black women of the African diaspora. This episode we are focusing on Professor Wangari Muta Maathai.

​Wangari Muta Maathai was born on April 1st, 1940 in the village of Ihithe in the Nyeri District of Kenya.  Around 1943 her family moved to a White-owned farm where her father had found work, she lived there until 1947 when her mother returned to Ihithe so 2 of her brothers could attend school (there was no schooling on the farm).  At the age of 8 she joined her brothers in Primary school and at the age of 11 she moved to St. Cecilia’s Intermediate Primary School, which was a catholic boarding school in Nyeri.  She spent four years at the school becoming fluent in English and converting to Catholicism.  While at Cecilia’s she was protected from the Mau Mau Uprising that caused her mother to move to an emergency village.  She graduated first in her class and was admitted to Loreto High School in Limuru, the only Catholic High School for Girls in Kenya.  As colonialism ended in East Africa Kenyan Politicians began to look for ways to make education in Western Nations available, and with the help of Senator John Kennedy, the Kennedy Airlift Program was created.  Maathai was one of roughly 300 kenyan's selected to study in the United States in September of 1960.

The Freedom Train Network is celebrating black women for the entire month of May. So we will be celebrating and teaching you about great black women of the African diaspora. This episode we are focusing on "4 Women of Virtue": Queen Nefertiti, Sojourner Truth, Carlota Lukumi, and Marie-Joseph Angélique. 

Nefertiti

Nefertiti was an Egyptian woman born around 1390 BCE who would become the Queen to Pharaoh Akhenaten. The name Nefertiti means "a beautiful woman has come," which was fitting because she was well known for her beauty. The identity of her parents is unknown in most circles, and little is known about her early life. She became the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV who would change his name to Akhenaten because they were followers of Aten. Nefertiti would take on a name change as well, she was known as “Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti” which means “Beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has come.” Akhenaten made a radical change in converting his kingdom to the following of Aten. 


Sojourner Truth
 
In 1797 a young girl named Isabella was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York. Her parents were James and Betsey and they were owned by Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. As a young girls Isabella did not speak English, she only spoke what is called low Dutch and she could not read or write. Isabella would marry a man named Thomas who was also enslaved at the time; together the couple produced five children. Between 1815 and 1826 she was sold to four different slave owners on four different occasions. In 1826, Isabella had enough and decided to escape slavery and claim her freedom. 


​Carlota Lukumi

In the early 1800’s a young girl named Carlota was kidnaped from her Yoruba village in Nigeria and transported to Mantanzas, Cuba. While living in Cuba, she was sold to a sugarcane plantation in Triumvarato where the conditions were poor and inhumane. Carlota was strong willed and vigilant, she refused to let her conditions break her. In 1843 Carlota met a fellow slave girl named Fermina who planned an uprising. Carlota was willing and able to help Fermina raid the plantation to gain their freedom. Unfortunately, the plantation owners learned of Fermina’s plans, she was beaten and locked in jail.  Carlota was not deterred by Fermia’s incarceration; she used the talking drum to communicate to the others of her plans. The slaves would often use their drums as safe way to communicate to each other. Using the drums Carlota organized a raid on the plantation which helped to free Fermina and others from jail. 


Marie-Joseph Angélique

During the 1730’s a young slave girl named Marie-Joseph Angelique would start a rebellion history would never forget. Angelique was the property of François Poulin of Montreal; little is known about the history of slavery in Canada. She was a slave girl who was being prepared to become a mating partner with a fellow slave. Angelique was a woman of sound mind and she was resistant to the demands of her master. She was also engaged in a relationship with a white indentured servant named Claude Thibault from France.