African Women Resistance Leaders: Political and Spiritual

Tue, 26 Feb – Tue, 14 May 2019

This unique 12 week course details Black women who have fought against colonialism and racism over the last 400 years and examine both their varied politics and differing spiritual belief systems. Mainstream history consistently ignores the contribution of Black women in general, but many of these women used indigenous spirituality to sustain their own ideologies and inspire their followers. African civilisations and belief systems were, and are, routinely denigrated by Europeans which has led to stigma and mis-representation.

We will cover:

  • Pre-colonial African belief systems
  • Christianity as oppression and resistance
  • Sanite, Mbuya, Nanny and Nanny Greg, Yaa, Fannie, Nzingha, Coretta, The Two Amys, Queen Mary Thomas, Queen Amar, Yemaja, Oya, Dandara, Nehanda and Graca and 40 more
  • 1970s women soldiers in Africa’s liberaton wars
  • Black women’s resistance in English literature
  • Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mississippi, Haiti, Angola, Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria: Civil and Human Rights
  • Disparaging terms ‘Obeah’, ‘Juju’, the real history of Santeria, Candomble, and Jumbie
  • African religious belief and Hollywood superheroes
  • The African roots of the Zombie; movie metaphors
  • White female fragility and the co-options of feminism
  • 20 films about heroic and empowering Black women and where to get them
  • Institutional racism/sexism, how it works and how to fight it
  • Understanding ‘whiteness’ and related behaviour

We will use obscure and modern film clips, archival documents, rare books and essays, interviews , testimony from the women and their followers, small and large group work. The course involves presentations from Black British female civil rights activists, cinema trips, self research as well as as open air sessions (weather permitting)

Course Objectives:

  • Provide political and spiritual context for 80 Black women leaders from 1680s to 2019
  • Explain pre-colonial belief systems and their survival in post-colonial African diaspora
  • Analyse and explore white supremacist thought in mainstream media
  • Promote the consumption of Black history and literature

Course Leaders: Dr Michelle Asantewa, Donna Mckoy and Tony Warner. Every Tuesday for 12 weeks from 26th February 6.30pm-8.30pm. Cost £150.00

This event is sponsored by Eye London Glasses.

Eye London in Hackney run by Ghanain Margaret Asare, provides excellent eyecare and eyewear. In 2018 Eye London will be sponsoring the Queen Nzingha lectures, the Black Power Women of Brixton walks and the African Women’s Resistance leaders course https://www.eyelondonopticians.co.uk/pages/contact-us Eye London ,312 Mare Street Hackney E8 1HA. Ph 0208 533 1188

Other events in 2019 from www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk :

  • African Women Resistance Leaders: Political and Spiritual course.
  • Black History river cruise March 2nd
  • Black History bus tour March 10th
  • Black Films and White Power :10 Years of African Odysseys Course
  • Black Power Women of Brixton walk March 10th
  • Fibroids: what sisters can do
  • Black womens resistance through fashion: the head wrap, tie head and gele
  • Dr Harold Moody and the 1930s fight for Black nurses
  • A Black British Panther speaks: Civil Rights and Fashion

2019

  • 50 Years since the police killing of David Oluwale
    • 51 Years since MLK was assassinated
    • 61 Years since the Notting Hill Racist Riots
    • 61 years since the establishment of the West Indian Standing Conferenc