Queen Nana Yaa Asantewaa of the Ashanti Empire
Her fight against British colonialists is a story is woven throughout the history of Ghana. A story from Ghana , A History for Primary Schools, E.A. Addy; In the evening the chiefs held a secret meeting at Kumasi. Yaa Asantewaa the Queen Mother of Ejisu, was at the meeting. The chiefs were discussing how they should make war on the white men and force them to bring back the Asantehene. Yaa Asantewaa saw that some of the chiefs were afraid. Some said that there should be no war. They should rather go to beg the Governor to bring back the Asantehene King (Nana) Prempeh. Then suddenly Yaa Asantewaa stood up and spoke. This was what she said:
“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 Opoku 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 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 stirred up the men who took an other to fight the white men until they released the Asantehene. For months the Ashantis led by Yaa Asantewaa fought very bravely and kept the white men in the fort. Yet British reinforcements totalling 1,400 soldiers arrived at Kumasi. Yaa Asantewa and other leaders were captured and sent into exile. Yaa Asantewaa’s war was the last of the major war in Africa led by a women.
Source www.ashanti.com