One inspiration of liberation can be seen in Queen Yaa Asantewa of the Ashanti. Ironically enough the Ashanti are included
among those African societies who participated in the slave trade. Though they did
not prosper as greatly as groups like the Dahomey, they did manage to keep their
power due to the traffic in human bodies. With the close of the slave trade the
Ashanti, like so many other African societies who had participated in the
trade,found themselves at a disadvantage. Many had invested themselves so fully
in the business of slaving that with its end they were left with no other form of
export. What was worse, slave trading had caused such a drain on resources,
basic demands such as agriculture and cloth manufacturing had been neglected or
completely forgotten altogether. Severely weakened, one by one they found
themselves the new targets of their old European allies. Close to the end of the
19th century, the British attempted to colonize the Gold Coast, now known as
Ghana. This region was inhabited by the pround warrior people known as the
Ashanti. The British began by exiling the Ashantis King Premph in 1896. When
this did not succeed in breaking the peoples spirit they demanded the supreme
symbol of the Ashanti people: the Golden Stool. On March 28, 1900, the British
Governor called a meeting of all the kings in and around the Ashanti city of
Kumasi and ordered them to surrender the Golden Stool. Deeply insulted the
Ashanit showed no outward reaction. Silently, they left the meeting and went
home to prepare for war. Nana (Queen-Mother) Yaa Asantewa became the
motivating force behind the Ashanti. When she saw that some of the chiefs were
afraid to make war against the British she stood and made a stirring and stinging
speech. She is quoted as stating, Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no
more?...if you 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
