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Female Firsts: Yaa Asantewaa · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told you, protection of iHeart Radio. And welcome
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to another edition of Female First, which means we are
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: once again joined by the worldly, the well traveled Eves.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome e Hi, thank you, Thank you for the introduction,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: always always, thanks always for being with us as you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: travel the world. I feel like you could have your
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: own Where in the world is Eaves right now?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Show? But yeah? What have you been up to since
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: we last spoke, Eve?
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: I have been a couple of places. I have been.
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: House sitting.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I've been in Asheville. I'm currently in Seattle, and I
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: have been really chilling.
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: Oh, y'all. I have been sewing.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: And I don't know if I brought it up to y'all,
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: but I have three sewing machines. So I have one
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: that I got in high school. I have one that
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: was my grandmother's that I don't use, but it's one
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: of those old table ones.
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: And it's in the house.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: And then I have another singer one just because I
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: liked the old wooden singer ones with the iron bases,
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: and so I have one of those two. And when
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: I got that one, I got it from my husband
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: got it from me from an estate sale because I
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: had wanted it. I had seen it previously years before
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: in a good will and just was so sad that
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: I never got it from the good will. I just
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: missed my opportunity to buy it. And that's not a
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: normal thing to find in a good will. And so
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: he got it for me when he saw it in
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: the state sale. And that one actually had a bunch
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: of the owner's old supplies in it, so it already
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: had like chalks, it had bobbins, it had needles, it
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: had just you know, threads. It had some stuff in
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: there too, so I got some different colors of thread
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: from that. But yeah, so anyway, I was like, let
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: me you know, I was making some books will, getting
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: back into book binding as I was before, slash more
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: into it than I was before, because I had always
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: wanted to. And I was like, why not make some
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: like some covers for the books to keep them safe
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: because it's easy for the fabric to get I made
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: one for myself and I put fabric on them. It's
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: easy for it to get a little bit dirtier when
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: you carried it around everywhere with you. That turned into
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: drawstring bags, and so I was like it was one
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: of those things where I started and I couldn't stop.
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: I couldn't do anything else.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: I just became obsessed with it for the period of
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: time because I had, like some people I wanted to
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: make them for. So I was just you know, in
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: the grind, nose down, foot on the pedal literally and
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: like just cranking them out. So I actually like I
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: was spending a lot of time doing that when I
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: was in Ashville. And just like when I go places
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: I like to kind of especially if it's a place
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: I've been before and I just like the feel of
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: that place. I can be chill like I can just
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: I cannot try to go out and do something every
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: single day. And it's nice when like the neighbors are cool,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: the neighborhood is cool, and I'm hanging out with cats
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: usually so very cool too.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Man, you just threw me back. Like I remember my
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: mom had her grandmother's old sewing machine that was more
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: decoration and it was one of that flipped up with
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the foot pedal, and I would go pretend I knew
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: what I was doing and act like I was sewing.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I do not, and I'm so envious of people making things,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Like I really wish I could just crap things and
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: make things for people, But I don't have the patience
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: or attention span apparently. But that's amazing. That's a great
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: fine jealous. I'm gonna need a drawstream back soon.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: Okay, I got you.
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: Look, I'm as soon as I can sit back down
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: there and get a bunch of them done. Now I
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: know how to do it by heart, Like, hopefully I
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: start getting better at the execution of the craft, because
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: you know, there's some things I'm like, I don't know
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: why the straight line is so hard? Like why is
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: a straight line so hard?
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: So really is a talent.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: It's a talent, and I realized that I like to
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: be good at things quickly. But it's so it's nice
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  Speaker 4: to actually have something to focus on being good at
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  Speaker 4: because now I have the motivation.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: So I've started.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not great at it, so I think that's part
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: of the other thing that was pushing me. It's like, Okay,
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: I'm not good at this. I gotta get good at it.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: But it does still feel very intimidating because that's a
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  Speaker 4: whole world and so so so many people have been
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: doing it so long just as part of their own sustenance,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: like not not even commercially. A lot of people do
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: it commercially, Like I know it's not an uncommon task,
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  Speaker 4: but it's also one that or skill, I should say,
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  Speaker 4: But it's also one that has so much context, like
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: there are so many stitches, there are so many fabrics,
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  Speaker 4: what weight of thread and what needle?
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: This machine does this? This does this? So yeah, it can.
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  Speaker 4: It can be intimidating, but I think it's like a
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: worthwhile It's a worthwhile hobby for me, and that's what
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: it is right now. It's not anything but a hobby.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: And I really like making making gifts for people, Like
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: I've stopped giving gifts in the last like three years.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: I don't really give gifts for like occasions anymore, but
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: I like giving gifts just because so especially himmade ones.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: I love that. And it is true, like.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: That kind of entry level can be tough because people
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: use terminology that if they've been in the realm for
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: a while, they don't realize the newcomer might be like,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you mean by any of this,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: but it is it's really rewarding to make your own things.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: See it come to fruition. I would love to just
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: look at what you've created. I'm so excited by this.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Oh oh, do you want to see it?
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: I know the people listening won't be able to see it,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: but I can describe it if y'all want to see
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: it right now.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, I had two different covers.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: So the backstory on these is I made them orange
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: because a couple of these were the bags these were going.
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: To like some monks and.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Some of the people that are part of the organization
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: that I go to. So that's why they're orange.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: It's like saffron is the color of robes. It's like
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: the monk color. And this is one of the cover.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: The this is to Tangey fabric from I got this
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: from Zambia. The fabric, so I had a bunch a
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: boatload of fabric that I hadn't used because I wanted
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: somebody to make clothing with it. But the price is
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: here for clothing, just like the tailoring prices. Finding somebody
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: to do it, like I would go to places that
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: sell things with the fabric, but they'll be like, no,
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: we don't tailor, we don't tailor things from scratch. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: then I know that the price for a custom outfit
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: here would be like outrageous as compared to it would
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: be if I were like on the continent of Africa.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: So I just I'm like, I'm just gonna wait, and
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: in the meantime, the ones that I'm the fabrics that
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I'm down for making book covers with, I'll just do
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: that instead. So I'll probably make try to figure out
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: what else I can make with the fabrics. Yeah, And
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  Speaker 4: so it's orange and blue on the cover. It's got
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: like kind of like a snaking pattern and some chevron ing.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: It's like black orange and blue. And then the end
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: papers inside of the book are like orange.
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  Speaker 5: I don't know how to explain it.
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  Speaker 4: It's kind of like the water it's UNSETI water colory situation.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: And it's a coptic stitch bind so you can see
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: the exposed signatures of the book on the side of
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  Speaker 4: the book and some three stitches with orange thread going
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: down the side. And then the bags have just like
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: a little cloths or cotton drawstring on it. And there's
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: like a leaf stitching because the my machine has a
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: decorative leaf.
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: Stitch on it. So I decided to do that for it.
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: Thank you great job. Yeah, that's awesome.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I want one.
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: That's like it's fine. Order where do I go? Make place?
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Order?
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Please?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: This is I mean when it's funny, because when Samantha
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: got into punch needling, it was almost the opposite.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: It was like, you're taking this.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, I was forcing people to take coasters, which I
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: still have a thing for Annie that I haven't completely
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: finished because I don't like hot glue guns.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: Oh but I gotta fig at it because they're so dangerous.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Well like yes, and also I'm just I feel like
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: I'm a toddler when it comes to craft. So it's
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: gonna have like glue everywhere, or it's gonna be puffy,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: and I'm gonna be very upset when it's puffy instead
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of looking like the picture. It's kind of like how
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: you're talking about you. I do not I'm not good
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: at not being good at it immediately. And if I'm
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: not immediately good at it, I pretty much quit when
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: it comes to stuff like that about myself.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: But the steaks are lower though that's the thing.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: It should be, But in my head I fell that.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I quit. Yeah, good attitude, I know, No.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: I get it. I really do well.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I would say the person we're talking about today did
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: not really get it. And this is another story where
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't believe I've never heard of this.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I'm excited, this is I'm just really angry. I'm it's
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: never been on my radar before. So who are we
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: talking about today? Today we'll be talking about Nanna ya
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: as Santois. So I'm doing my best to pronounce.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: I am really excited to talk about her though, because
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: she is a big figure in Ashanti in Ghanaian history,
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: because she was the first and only woman to be
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: a war leader in Ashanti history. So her story is
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: really fascinating, and this is one of the cases where
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: her legacy.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: Has been celebrated.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: You know, after everything that she accomplished, after her life story,
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: she is still being talked about and considered as a hero.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: So I am you know, we're talking about her today,
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: but I'm looking forward to learning more about her too,
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: because you know, her history is very rich, but it's
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: also really tied into the history of imperialism, the history
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: of colonialism, the history of the Ashanti people, the history
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: of Ghana. I mean, there's a lot of political history here,
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: in social history, cultural history that is a part of
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: the story that we're not going to fully be able
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: to talk about today that I would like to delve
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: deeper into as well. So yeah, that's who we're talking
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: about today. Shall we get started, Yes, So a lot
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: of the life of y'ah ascentois has been passed down
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: through oral history. She was born in Bessiase near Eduiso,
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  Speaker 4: which is near Kumasi, which is what's in now southwest Ghana.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: So it's not clear exactly when she was born, but
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: there are estimates that she would have been born around
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: eighteen thirty and it is known that she lives to
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: an older age because of records of how old she
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: was at specific periods of time or how old she
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: appeared to be at specific periods of time, like, for instance,
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: according to a census in say Sales, which is where
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: she ends up later in nineteen twelve, since it's there
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: in nineteen twelve, she was estimated to be about eighty
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: years old at the time, so from that we can
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: kind of estimate how old or when she was born.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: So her mother was part of.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: The Asona matrilineal royal clan of that Westo state, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: she had one sibling who was a brother. She also
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: grew up in Bessisa, so she stayed there for a
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: while and she and her brother worked the land near
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: their home. And she was married and she and her
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: husband had one child. And at some point yah Centoi
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: moved and she continued to maintain and extend her farms.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: Her brother became ed Wesso haney Our ruler of Edwssu
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: under the stole name of Afran and Panin. And when
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: her brother was king of Edusso, he appointed her queen
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: mother of Edusso of the Ashanti Empire. Her brother, though,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: died in eighteen ninety four and she used her right
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: as queen mother to nominate her grandson as ruler of
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Utwssu So. A little bit on that history of the area,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: which is that the Gold Coast which is in present
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: day Ghana. It became a British Crown colony in the
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: early eighteen hundreds. The Ashanti people controlled much of present
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: day Ghana and Kumasi was the Shanti capital. So throughout
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: the eighteen hundreds, the Shanti people they fought wars against
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: British colonization as the British attempted to expand their territory
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: as they do just come to a place and say
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: this is mine and more of this will be mine.
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: So not a new story.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: That was the case in this area, and the Ashanti
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: people were not having it. They were like of course
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: there were people who were more accepting of it, but
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: there was a lot of resistance effort to British rule.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: And in eighteen ninety three, the Colonial Secretary and acting
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, whose name was Frederick Hodgson,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: he invited the Ashanti people to become a British protectorate.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: But Nana Prempa, the first who was the Sante Henay
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: or the ruler, rejected this offer. And in eighteen ninety six,
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Sarah William Maxwell, who was Governor of the Gold Coast,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: went to Camasi and had the Santa Henay his mother
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: and other rulers and advisors arrested. They were shipped off
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: to other places. So they were sent to Almina, Freetown
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: and they went to say sales and yeah Assantoi's grandson
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Frane was arrested and exiled along with Nana Prempe and
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: yeah A. Santois then became the queen mother of the state.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: She had rule over the area after he was exiled,
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: so the Ashanti Kingdom was then declared a protectorate. Kumasi
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: had to be administered by a representative of the Gold
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Coast Governor and supported by a committee of local chiefs.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: And of course the British continued to put forth measures
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: where they exerted their will and their force to establish dominance.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: So they did things like instituted ways to collect money,
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: making people labor for public works, which apparently was not
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: like that's not they weren't into that. So even if
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: they were at you know, a higher level of rule,
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: but also everyday people didn't want that for themselves, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: so the British also wanted possession of the Golden stool,
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: so you'll also see this war called the War of
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: the Golden Stool. The golden stool is very important in
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: a Shanti and for the Ashanti people. It's believed to
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: be a really sacred symbol of the Shanti people. It
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: holds their souls, it unifies them, it brings them together,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: it gives them prosperity and strength, so it's it's really important.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: It's guarded, it's held close.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: The British thought though of course without regard to to
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: to to cultural history and to status quo of the
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: people that they claimed were inferior and that they came
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: to rule over. They were just like, I think we'll
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: take control of this. You know, this will be great
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: if we capture this golden stool. We take this golden stool.
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: It'll be.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Symbolic of how much dominion that we have over you. Also,
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: it would have the effect of perhaps destroying a shanty
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: morale in unity and so. On March twenty eighth, nineteen hundred,
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: the Gold Coast Governor Frederick Hodgson addressed Ashanti rulers and
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: he told them that they had to surrender, among other
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: things in the address, but he told them that they
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: had to surrender the golden stool to British authorities. Yeah,
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: A Centois was at the meeting. She was like, how
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: how y'all just going to sit here and listen to
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: these ridiculous demands like this is not okay. So that
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: evening the chiefs had a meeting in Kumasi Yah. Centoine
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: was there and they discussed how to fight the British
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: and how to bring back the sante Hena or the
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: king who had been exiled and it was clear that
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: the Ashanti were being demanded, they were being forced to
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: give up their institutions and their rule and bout down
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: to the British. But they were resolved not to submit
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: to British rule. And so at the meeting, y'ah as
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: Santoine was like taking a back that some of the
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: chiefs and so there's not I'll say that there's not
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: perfect record. There's not like play by play, line by
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: line record of what happened in this meeting. So there's
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: there's not an official record of what happened in the meeting,
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: but there are some people who have recounted what happened
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: in the meeting. But yeah, Santoine was taken aback by
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: the fact that some of the chiefs wanted to ask
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: the British to restore the king, like just ask them.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: She said, quote, is it true that the bravery of
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: cannot be. I must say this, If you, the men
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will we
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: the women will. I shall call upon my fellow women.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: We will fight the white men. We will fight until
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: the last of us falls in the battlefields. So undoubted
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: that's probably a paraphrasing of what she said during that time,
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: but that is what is recorded as what she said
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: now the very least is the sentiment of how she
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: felt at the time. So it's unclear to what extent
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: her her sentiments and how she vocalized them really how
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: much that was a factor in how that pushed people
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: to move forward and their resistance effort. But it seems
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: like it did encourage people to push forward in their
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: resistance effort in addition to people his own feelings about
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: resistance and how they would move forward with it, and
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: also other leaders sway. So they ended up choosing her
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: to leave the resistance though, and she did accept the role.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: So there is a two thousand and seven essay by
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: TC McCaskey and the author says this. In the essay,
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: the author says, quote, Yeah, a Centois military involvement was
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: inspired in part by patriotism or a comprehensible xenophobia and
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: her embittered family feeling. Nevertheless, the reason she took such
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: a prominent role against the British was that she did
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: indeed desire the return of Agamin Primpa, which was the
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: king who had been exiled.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: That's the end of the quote.
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: By the way, so yes, I was trying to understand
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: the context of why they chose her in that moment,
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: which seemed its his historians and scholars who have commented
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: on why she was chosen. It wasn't if she was first,
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: but it wasn't fully uncommon for women to have positions
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: of power. It wasn't fully it wasn't completely rare. It
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: wasn't like it was non existent that women had a
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: say in certain things and had rule in certain ways,
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: but this was a role that had never been inhabited
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: by anybody before yeah Centoi. So there's there that is
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: a little bit of insight into why she might have
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: chosen to be the war leader. It also could have
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: been that choosing a high figure from Kumbasi, where the
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: British colonial administration was would have been risky, but clearly
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: Nanaya Ascentoi had proven that she would be a highly
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: capable leader and so thus begins the Yahs and TWA War.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: She would have been around her fifties or sixties when
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: she led the Yeahs and TWI War, which lasted from
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: around March until September nineteen hundred. As I've seen it
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: put in essays. It was like it was like it
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: was like a back of the force position. She wasn't
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: on the front lines per se as the war leader
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: that she was.
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: The role was.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Actually to plan strategy, to strategize, to come up with
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: tactics for war, to mobilize the forces, to gather the
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: materials for it, to declare agreements like the truces, and to.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Negotiate for peace.
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: So over the course of her time and the position,
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: her support from the Ashanti grew. The resistance late siege
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: to Afford at Kamasi that the British were posted up in.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: But after a couple of months the British did't to
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: force them to shut down the uprising and the British
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: did end up capturing Kamasi and eventually the Shanti territories
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: became a British Crown colony. But the Ashanti did what
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: they set forth in doing. Their mission was to protect
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: the Golden Stool, and they did They did do that.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: So it became known as the Yasinwa War because the
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Queen Mother was the leader of the effort to fight
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: the British rule of the Ashanti Kingdom. But it's also
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: been called the War of the the Golden Stool, also
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: seen it referred to as like Ashanti Uprising or things
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: like that, noting the significance of their their resistance. Basically
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: first so Yeah, in nineteen oh one, yahs and TWA
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: and the other chiefs were arrested and they were sent
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: into exile in Sechel for twenty five years. So the
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Shanti territories became British Crown colonies and Ya Centoi ended
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: up dying in seychell in October of nineteen twenty one.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: A few years after that, King Prempe the First was
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: repatriated back to Kumasi and in nineteen twenty eight he
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: was able to negotiate for the remains of all the
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: people who had died in exile to be exhumed and
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: returned back to Ghana, so that included ya Centoi. In
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: nineteen thirty her remains made it back to Kamasi. She
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: was buried in her royal lineages cemetery in Eduso and
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: it wasn't until nineteen fifty seven, which would have been
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: over the last thirty five years after Yasintwa died, that
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Ghana gained its independence, and it was at that point
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: when the former Ashanti and Gold Coast colonies became part
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: of the newly independent Ghana, and there was a museum
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: that was dedicated in her name that had a lot
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: in two thousand that had a lot of her belongings
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: in it. A fire did destroy it and then there
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: was later an effort to bring that museum back. There
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: have also been documentaries about her, and she has been
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: honored and is still honored and celebrated as a hero
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: and warrior queen. That's the story of Yasinta.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Like I said, this whole story, I'm so angry that
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I hadn't heard it before. That's really really interesting and
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I do wish we had more more information and maybe
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: it's out there, but like more of the first hand accounts,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: because I'm just so intrigued by her and her personality
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and to be like, what what are we talking about here?
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: That's not what we're going to do. I'm just so
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I'm so interested in her and how she became this
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: leader or was this leader but got people to be like, yes,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: you so it's always Eves. Thanks for bringing these stories
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to us.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: You're welcome.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I uh too, was like I really I feel
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: like I should know a lot more about her and
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: about her story, and I should have known it for
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: a while, so it's nice to be able to share it.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: And also it's like, I'm always interested in what where
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: a person derives their courage from.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: Because.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: There are so many instances when we're talking about these
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: women in history when they are singular and they're pioneering.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: So I would imagine that it takes a lot of
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: a lot of guts and a lot of skill to
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: be able to take on these roles and be so
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: forward about it and be so outspoken. So yeah, but
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: in Ghana, there are still plenty of people who know
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: way more about her story than I do, and people
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: who are in her lineage who can speak speak to that.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: But I think there is always something missing when there
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: isn't first hand accounts to help us be able to
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: characterize a person in their own words. So there's always
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: something missing there, And I always to part of y'all
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: know that part of something I love about out hearing
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: people talk about themselves in their own words is all
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: the last they have themselves, Because I'm just always interested
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: in people creating their own mythology. So yeah, it would
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: have been cool to have more of that from Yasini,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: but fortunately there are there are many many people who
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: are preserving her legacy there today, and descendants and people
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: in her lineage who are there to tell her story.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: And then because they do so, I'm able to talk
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: about it today.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, and we always appreciate the people doing that work.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: And I do also love the lies people tell about themselves,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: like presumably sometimes you would think no one even is
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: ever going to read this, but still this is the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: story I'm crafted through. Yeah, it's great. I actually run
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: into this a lot over on the Food podcast. I
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: do savor where and like, I feel this company should
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: have a more concrete answer to when did they start?
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: But it's like it told was an idea the fifteen hundreds,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Like no, when was it? But it's in their interest
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to kind of tell this, like yeah, this story. So
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I find that interesting too.
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: I wonder do you.
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: You probably run into a lot of the origin stories
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: for names as well, so not just like company when
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: a company was created, but like how did their name
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: come up?
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: And it is kind of weird.
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: I see stories about people being like I think it
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: came from this, or it might have come from this.
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: It's like how did somebody not know where the name
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: came from? That seems like a big part of the
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: founding of a company. Oh yeah, half the.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Time we were like, nobody knows. Here's a fun story
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: people like to tell, but nobody knows. Yeah, but you
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: would think somebody somewhere would, but they often don't. And
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: it's just it's interesting to hear the stories people or
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: companies tell. Yeah themselves for sure.
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: Why I'm an advocate for everybody listening telling their own
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: stories in some way and like memorializing them, documenting them
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: because I know that you know, sometimes it can seem
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: kind of self indulgent for us to tell our own
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: stories in a way where we're like or self aggrandizing,
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: like where it feels like, oh, we're talking about us,
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: I'm talking about myself. Why would anybody want to read
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: my story? But it's like you have no idea, like
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: or maybe you do, but most people that I know
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: don't know when they're going to die, so there's not
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: really a point in waiting. And especially our memory feels
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: us and it changes as we age. So you know,
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: the story that you tell about yourself in your twenties,
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: when you're seventy would be different than the story you
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: tell about yourself when you're in your thirties about your twenties.
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean.
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: So yeah, tell your story now tell it now, lie
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: about yourself, lie about it.
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: I love it yourself up now. I keep it every
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: time I travel.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I like, every day I write a journal entry and
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I have to say, like, you know, years later, looking back,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: I'm glad that I did, because I'll forget something and
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: then i'll read it. I'm like, oh, yeah, I do remember,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: yeah this thing. So you know, I guess in that way,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: you can lie to yourself even in the future, but
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: you should also be truthful if you would like.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like these options. You can lie about yourself,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: you can be truthful, just just just write it.
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, there you go.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: And I feel like she specifically was a woman of action,
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: so she was probably like, nag, I get this done.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I don't have time for this, which is sad for
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: us because we want more. But she was so larger
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: than life on her own actions that it's kind of like, yeah,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I got as she told them, Oh fine, I'll do it.
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: You don't have the courage. I got this mm hm,
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: which I'll want.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're named after.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: I'm like, what, yeah, yeah, well, thank us always, Eves
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: for joining us, for bringing this story.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Where can the good listeners find you?
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: Y'all can head to my website first, so that's Eve's
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: Jeffcote dot com. My name is spelled y V E
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: S j E F F c O A T dot com. Uh.
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: For those of y'all who already know how to spell
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: my name, you're probably sick of me here is spelled
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: sick of sharing me. Spell that every single time, but
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: just in case for those of y'all because my name
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: is kind of spelled differently, you can also go to
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: my Instagram at not Apologizing. You can go to many
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: other episodes here Sminty a female first talking about women
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: in history who were pioneers, their achievements, their accomplishments in
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: their life stories and you. On my website, you can
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: sign up for my newsletter as well if you're interested
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: in getting updates and being on the email list.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you've always has so much going on, so
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: go check it out, listeners. If you haven't already, and
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: if you would like to conduct us, you can you
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: can email us at Hello at stuff Onnever Told You
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can pride us on Blue Sky. I'm
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: also a podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: I Never Told You for us on YouTube and we
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: get the book you can get wherever you get your books.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our super producer Constenior executive prescer
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: My and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: you for listening. Stuff I Never Told You is production
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: by Heart Radio. For more podcasts or my Heart Radio,
• 33:48
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• 33:49
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