Herstory Revisited

Tituba was the first woman to be accused of practicing  witchcraft  during the 1692  Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. She was the slave of Samuel Parris, and although her origins are debated, it is commonly believed that she was a native of Barbados. Nothing is known of her life before her enslavement.   It is known that she was married to a Native American named John, who would later go on to accuse her of witchcraft. She became an instrumental figure in the witch trials when she confessed to witchcraft, simultaneously accusing Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. She was imprisoned but later released – upon which she disappears from history.   Tituba was the first person to be accused of witchcraft by  Elizabeth Parris  and  Abigail Williams - her master’s daughter and niece. It has been suggested that Tituba had entertained the girls with stories of witchcraft and voodoo, which is possibly given the prominence of the tradition in the Cari...

 “I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.” Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. 1822 – 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. After escaping from slavery, she helped free at least 70 other slaves using the so-called Underground Railroad. She also served as an army scout and spy during the American Civil War, and later became a prominent suffragette. Tubman was born Araminta "Minty" Ross to enslaved parents, Harriet ("Rit") Green and Ben Ross. As is true of many slaves, the place and time of her birth is unclear. Her maternal grandmother, Modesty, was brought to the US on a slave ship from Africa, and that is all that is known of her heritage.   Her mother, Rit (who may have had a white father), was a cook for the Brodess family, while her father was a skilled woodsman on the plantation. They married around 1808 and had nine children together – 5 girls, and 4 boys. Rit fought hard to keep her fami...

  “There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die-hope, determination, and song.”   Zenzile Miriam Makeba (1932 – 2008), aka “Mama Africa,   was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, UN goodwill ambassador, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa. Zenzile was born in the black township of Prospect, near Johannesburg. Her Swazi mother, Christina Makeba, was a sangoma (traditional healer) and domestic worker. Her Xhosa father, Caswell Makeba, was a teacher, but sadly died when she was just six years old. She earned her name from the fact that her mother had been warned that any future pregnancy could be fatal and that this seemed highly probably during her difficult labour, during which her grandmother often muttered "uzenzile", a Xhosa word that means "yo...

  Sara Forbes Bonetta , (born  Omoba  Aina ; 1843 – 1880), was an  Egbado  princess of the  Yoruba people  in West Africa who was orphaned by war and later became the slave of King  Ghezo  of Dahomey. She was rescued from slavery by Captain  Frederick E. Forbes  of the British  Royal Navy  and became a goddaughter to  Queen Victoria . Originally named Omoba Aina, she was born in 1843 at  Oke-Odan , an  Egbado  village. In 1848, Oke-Odan was raided by a  Dahomeyan  army; Aina's parents died during the attack and at the age of five she ended up as a slave at the court of King  Ghezo . It is believed that her captors intended to use her as a human sacrifice (though I’m always a little wary of such tales coming from colonial sources #barbiansandthatinnit). Anyway, she was discovered by Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the  Royal Navy , who arrived to  Dahomey  on a Briti...