Queen Yaa Asantewaa

Yaa-Asantewaa was a courageous, fearless and determined Ashanti Warrior Queen who led the resistance against British colonialism to defend the Golden Stool. Yaa-Asantewaa succeeded in the short run, but the Ashanti were heavily outgunned. Her story is very pivotal in Ghanaian history and has prompted women emancipation as well as gender equality. The War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa-Asantewaa War, was the last of the major wars in Africa led by a woman. She is known today as part of the great African women who changed the world.

Early Life

Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother Of Ejisu, was born in the 1840s on the Ashanti Kingdom's Gold Coast, which is now part of modern-day Ghana. Between the 1880s and 1890s, she served as queen mother, having been appointed to the position by her brother, Nana Akwasi Afrane Okpese. She used her power and influence as Queen Mother to nominate her grandson as ruler of Ejisu after her brother was killed in the civil war in 1894. Nana Yaa Asantewaa was a skilled farmer, a mother, a local administrator, an intellectual, a politician, a human rights activist, Queen, and a leader.

She was known as a tenacious woman who firmly believed that men are not pillows for any woman to lean against. She stood up for the rights of her fellow women and encouraged them to work hard in an era when women were mostly dependent on men for their daily needs. She was very diligent and focused as she was known not to bid farewell to anyone when she was going to her farm in order to avoid lengthy and time consuming conversations. This generated the saying ―Yaa ko afuom a okra (Which translates: Yaa always leaves for her farm without bidding farewell to anyone). She was renowned for her intelligence, patriotism, good sense of judgement and integrity as she always went out of her way to profess peace and forgiveness. She had a strong belief that all humans were equal irrespective of status and were entitled to fair treatment. She was kind and generous to people of all ages and even towards strangers.

Gold Coast - Ashanti Kingdom

Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother Of Ejisu was born in the 1840s in the Gold Coast of the Ashanti Kingdom, what is now part of modern-day Ghana.

The War of the Golden Stool

In 1896 the British exiled Nana Prempeh I, King of the Ashanti Kingdom, as well as his family members, other important kings of the kingdom and Nana Yaa Asantewaa’s grandson (Ejisuhene) to the island of Seychelles. The Ashanti people were distraught and devastated by this arrest. They became afraid to act or retaliate against the British out of fear of their threats of punishment.

Following Nana Prempeh I's exile, Frederick Hodgson, the British governor-general of the Gold Coast, demanded to sit on the Golden Stool. (The Golden Stool, made of pure gold, is a mysterious symbol of power.) The Ashanti people and their kingdom regard it as sacred and of great importance, to the point where they are willing to die rather than allow anyone to desecrate or take the Golden Stool). Frederick Hodgson's request resulted in a secret meeting between the Ashanti Kingdom's remaining authorities, which included Nana Yaa Asantewaa. They were debating how to reclaim their king from exile by waging war against the British. Many of the chiefs were afraid, according to Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Some people suggested that instead of fighting, they should beg and plead with the Governor to return Nana Prempeh I. (Asantehene).

Nana Yaa Asantewaa, disgusted and enraged by the men's behavior, abruptly stood up and spoke. She stated the following:

"Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days of the days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opolu Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No white man could have dared to speak to the chief of the Ashanti in the way the Governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this, if you the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. We the women will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields."

This speech challenged and moved all the men around her.

Many of the regional kings tasked Queen Mother Nana Yaa Asantewaa with leading the war. In the history of the Ashanti Kingdom, she was the first woman to be given that position. The rebellion besieged the fort at Kumasi, where the British had sought refuge, in the year 1900. (Today, the Kumasi Fort and Military Museum stands in its place.) To put an end to the Ashanti rebellion, the Gold Coast governor dispatched a force of 1400 men armed with rapid-firing guns. They were then conquered by the British, and Yaa Asantewaa fled into the forest after walking out of a negotiating session. She moved from place to place several times, with locals assisting in her disguise, but she was eventually apprehended, along with a group of Asante (Ashanti) chiefs. Yaa Asantewaa allegedly spat in the face of the British soldier who arrested her. When confronted by the British invaders, she was the epitome of bravery and strength.

Aftermath of War

Queen Nana Yaa Asantewaa led a valiant resistance to the British invasion, repelling the technologically superior British troops for months and inflicting heavy casualties before being captured and exiled. (Queen Yaa Asantewaa and fifteen of her closest advisers were captured during the battle and were all exiled to the Seychelles, where they met Nana Prempeh I.) The British fully seized the land that the Asante army had been defending for nearly a century, and the Ashanti (Asante) empire was made a protectorate of the British crown on January 1, 1902. On October 17, 1921, Nana Yaa Asantewaa died in exile in the Seychelles. She was said to have died peacefully while sleeping. Nana Prempeh I and the other exiled Asante court members were allowed to return to Asante years after her death. Nana Prempeh I made certain that the remains of Yaa Asantewaa and the other exiled Asantes (Ashanti people) were exhumed and returned to them for a proper royal burial. Frederick Hodgson was never able to sit on the Golden Stool because the British were unable to obtain it even years after the war, despite the fact that it was the main goal of the war.

Historical Mark and Cultural Legacy

Nana Yaa Asantewaa is now regarded as a legend, and many people admire her bravery. She is also celebrated as part of the African Women who Changed the World. Her sheer courage in standing up to the British despite the Ghanaian men's initially unmotivated front places her among Africa's greatest female leaders.

Today, she has a school named after her, Yaa Asantewaa Girls Secondary School, to emphasize the importance of empowering more women in Ghanaian society. The Ghana Education Trust funded the establishment of the Yaa Asantewaa Girls' Secondary School in Kumasi in 1960. Today, many young Ghanaian girls are proudly named after her.

Yaa Asantewaa II, the current Queen Mother of Ejisu, is a granddaughter of Yaa Asantewaa's only daughter, Serwaa Brakatuo. She has a museum dedicated to her in Kwaso, Ejisu–Juaben. In Maida Vale, west London, there is a Yaa Asantewaa Centre, which is an African–Caribbean arts and community center.

She is immortalised in many stories that recount her exploits and in song as follows: Koo koo hin koo Yaa Asantewaa ee! Obaa besia Ogyinae apremo ano ee! Waye be egyae Na Wabo mmode ("Yaa Asantewaa The woman who fights before cannons You have accomplished great things You have done well").