How The Woman King Defies Erasure, Honours Visibility and Champions Black History
As The Women King makes its way to our screens, we dive into the importance of the film and educating yourself on African history.
“A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
These words are attributed to prominent civil rights orator and Black nationalist, Marcus Garvey and hung in my mind as I left the cinema this weekend.
There is so much more to learn about the history of African women
There is still so much that we need to learn and challenge on the narrative surrounding African history and the role of Black women. We need to critically question the position that continues to limit Black history to the period of enslavement.
Take the most recent example of this, in Woman King. This cinematic stirring drama is inspired by the 19th-century West African Kingdom of Dahomey, now called Benin, it’s all women warrior army, the Agojie, led by an all star studded cast including Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Thuso Mbedu and John Boyega as King Ghezo.
Soon after the film’s release, critics came out in full force, creating hashtags like #BoycottWomanKing because of Oscar winning director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s portrayal of the Agojie warriors. The critique centred on the Dahomey region’s part in the trade of enslaved people.
Do you see what’s happened here … the nuance of the movie, of African history, has now been debased to the archives of the trade of enslaved people.
The Woman King is not a historic documentary on the trade of enslaved people. For me, it has shed light on how, still in 2022, there is little knowledge or global awareness about African heritage and history.
As John Boyega says about the film, "We're doing more than just hitting the surface level points that we know of this kind of history. We're going deeper and deeper."
Why is it important to educate yourself about African history?
If I mentioned these powerful kingdoms to you, would you be able to speak confidently about the part they played as engineering, economic, scientific and agricultural architects of African history?
Would you be able to speak about the medieval kingdom of Great Zimbabwe - who were international traders with countries like China and Persia around 900 BC, long before European explorers or the Mali Empire, this West African kingdom was larger than Western Europe.
What we’re told time and time again, is that history in Africa began with the arrival of European trade of enslaved peoples. We’re relying on the records of European colonialists, who following the end of enslavement, sought to conquer Africa during the African scramble, partitioning nations and documenting their exploitation between 1881 and 1941.
We’re limited in our own learning from the point of view of Africans, before trans-atlantic enslavement.
According to the book Liberia and Ethiopia, 1880-1914: The Survival of Two African States, the 10% of Africa that was under the formal control of 15 European countries in 1870 increased to almost 90% by 1914, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia remaining independent.
That’s a lot of whitewashing of history right there!
How do words shape our perception of history?
This belief of racial superiority is demonstrated by the Portuguese trade of enslaved people in the Woman King when they use words like “Amazonian women” to describe the Agojie. With these very words, they erase Africa’s ability to create powerful armies and instead attribute their characteristics to mythical Greek women warriors.
Are we seriously prepared to only accept one version of prosperity about a continent made up of 54 countries, 3000 ethnicities and more than 2000 languages?
As a Black woman who grew up under the apartheid regime, who learnt only about the “salvation” of my motherland by Dutch and British colonialists, I think we need to look at the complexities of the history of African people and those across the Diaspora beyond who the beneficiaries of enslavement were.
The Woman King was filmed in my hometown of Cape Town, South Africa, which has its own complex history of enslavement. Dutch settlers were unable to convince the indigenous Khoi people to perform labour. The Khoi people were nomadic herders and saw no reward in what the Dutch settlers were offering, so they were forced to import enslaved labour.
In fact the first enslaved colony to arrive on the Cape Coast of South Africa was from the Kingdom of Dahomey.
How much do we know about the role of Black women during enslavement?
If you don’t know the story of the Dahomey Kingdom, an empire in West Africa that existed from around 1600 to 1904. Its remnants lie in modern day Benin. They were artisans, artists and sculptors, but the success of Benin was fueled by trade, the trade of enslaved people.
Something actress Lupita Nyongo confronted during the filming of Channel 4 documentary, Warrior Women.
We can name kings, chiefs and brave warriors like Shaka Zulu, but we’re silencing the voices of women when retelling Africa’s potent history.
African female historians are working to bring African women’s history to the forefront.
Should we be challenging the accuracy of the trade of enslaved people in a Hollywood movie or looking more closely at the emotional story of the female leads who jostle between loyalty, strength, fragility, trauma, resilience and revolution?
In the country that gave rise to a 6000 strong army of warrior women who were huntresses, riflewomen, reapers, archers and gunners, Beninese politician, Marie-Elise Akouavi Gbèdo, speaks candidly about her own journey to reclaim women’s legacy as being fearless. In this BBC documentary, she describes how today, 70% of women in Benin have been victims of domestic violence. And how by looking back at the individual women “In the Footsteps of the Warrior Queen”, she hopes to remind women of their courage.
My big takeaway from watching the Woman King and as we prepare for the next blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is not the whitewashing of history in fictional movies, but for people to take time and learn about their history, beyond the trade of enslaved people and reclaim the contributions of African civilisations to the development of the modern world.
History isn’t perfect … period.
If you’d like to learn more about Black history or contribute to the teaching of Black history all year round, get in touch with these organisations via the Spark & Co. Resource Hub:
This post was written by Yolanda Sissing (She/Her) an Activist, serial Volunteer, Blogger, feminist, Public Speaker, conscious parent and Storyteller. Find out more about Yolanda here.