African Women Who Led in Faith
5 women in the archive worked for spiritual leadership. They came from different countries and different centuries, but each of them saw a wrong that others accepted and set out to change it. Read their stories to see how the same cause looked from very different lives.
5 women in the archive
ColonialAline Sitoé Diatta
Diola spiritual leader in Casamance, Senegal, who led resistance against French colonial rice requisitions during World War II. Arrested and deported to Timbuktu, where she died at 24.
Pre-ColonialKimpa Vita
Kongolese prophet who led a religious and political movement to reunify the Kingdom of Kongo, claiming to be possessed by Saint Anthony. Burned at the stake at 22.
ColonialLalla Fatma N'Soumer
Algerian resistance leader who commanded Kabyle forces against the French colonial invasion in the 1850s, becoming one of North Africa's most celebrated anti-colonial warriors.
ColonialNehanda Charwe Nyakasikana
Zimbabwean spirit medium and revolutionary leader who commanded the First Chimurenga uprising against British colonisation. Her last words, 'my bones will rise,' became the rallying cry of Zimbabwe's independence movement 80 years later.
ColonialSarraounia Mangou
Azna warrior-queen and priestess of Lougou who, in 1899, stood against one of the most violent French military columns ever sent into Africa and refused to surrender her people. Her defiance became a Nigerien legend and an award-winning film.