Abina Mansah

Abina Mansah story has importance in history because during the 19th century women didn't have much rights. They were looked at as property and served as a labor worker for men. Abina Mansah added to the change for women history, her being able to run away from her slave owner and then to take her former slave master to court. Most women wouldn't have done that courageous act during her era. Stories like Abina Manash aren't taught often and not being knowledgeable about stories like Abina can get lost in time.

Early life[edit]

A young Akan woman named Abina/ Abena Mansah was born in Krepi. Abena meaning Tuesday- born female. Manasa meaning third- born female child. Abina was born in the eastern Gold Coast, populated with Ewe and Twi speaking Akan( people who are located southern Ghana and a language in Ghana). Abina grew up speaking both languages Ewe and Twi.

Life[edit]

Abina was enslaved at a young age. She was captured in war by an Asante general named Adu Bofo. When taken to the Asante territory she worked at two residences as a domestic slave labor. Adu Bofo was Abina’s first owner, her fist residence was in the capital of Coomassie, today known as Kumasi. Abina Mansah then lived in the Asante peripheral province of Adansi which bordered the independent states of the southern Gold Coast was allied with Britain. Abina Mansah was then caught up in another war, the Anglo- Ashante War of 1873-1874, at the end of which she was taken as spoils of war. When Mansah was captured this time, her owner was a former king of Asante, name Kofi Karikari. Karikari lost his throne as king after the war. Karikari took Abina and others to the Asante District of Kwanwoma. Abina lived with Karikari for a little while, and was then sold to a trader named Yowahwah. Yowahwah then married Mansah, the two then traveled into the Gold Coast Colony. In Salt Pond, Yowahwah(Abina’s husband) then secretly sold her to Quamina Eddoo, who turned her over to his sister Eccoah. Eddoo then told Abina that has been given into marriage with one of his other workers(Tandoe). Abina fled Cape Coast to gain her freedom. Abina then decided to take her case to court. Abina had met an attorney named meets James Davis, who helped prepare Abina Mansah for court. Abina Mansah took Quamina Eddoo to court, but the court ruled on November 14,1876, that Quamina Eddoo was not guilty of any of the charges specified in the Indictment. Abina Mansah was one of few enslaved women who took their case to court in the late 19th century, following the legal abolition of slavery in the Gold Coast colony. However, slavery still continued, and thus Mansah used legal means to try to attain her freedom.

Slavery[edit]

The 1833 Act to Abolition of Slavery was presented. Slavery was then abolished on August 1,1834, but yet women were still being enslaved. Women were often get married into enslavement, meaning that by law they were married but , but had no societal rights as a free person. Abina had been married to Yowahwah, her former owner. Yowahwah then used this marriage to disguise Abina’s enslavement and to bring her into the Gold Coast Colony and Protectorate, where slavery was illegal. As soon as Abina Mansah and her husband make it to Salt Pond then she was secretly sold to Quamina Eddoo. Many women like Abina Mansah were enslaved and brought into families and households, and were used as domestic labor. These were common experiences women faced in the 19th century.

Gender Roles/Norms[edit]

In the late 19th century Gold Coast, women, especially younger girls were more likely to be enslaved than males. Women were forced to obey their husbands, or just as commonly, their enslavers. Abina Mansah is a clear example of this. In Salt Pond, Yowahwah, Abina’s husband, secretly sold her to Quamina Eddoo, who turned her over to his sister Eccoah, who then told Abina Mansah to marry Tandoe (another slave of Eddoo). These were the kind of inequalities women in late 19th century Gold Coast went through. Colonial emancipation policies were accompanied by the imposition of new gender roles that affected women’s autonomy and access to land. Women’s rights were heavily restricted, and they could not own land or typically businesses. African women, freed or not, were targeted by colonial policies as the bearers of morality for future generations, which affected women’s economic, political, and social roles. In many ways, emancipation was informed by policies and gender expectations that placed freed women into legal inequalities in comparison with their male counterparts, which affected their ability to find wage labor and opportunities. After the abolishment of slavery, women were given rights to colonial courts in search of freedom and given financial compensation. Hence how Abina Mansah was able to bring her case to court in Cape Coast. However, as Abina’s story indicates, these rights were often violated.

References[edit]

^[1]^[2]^[3]

↑ Trevor R. Getz, Slavery and Reform in West Africa : Toward Emancipation in Nineteenth-Century Senegal and the Gold Coast, (Jstor 2006)
↑ Mariana P. Candido, “Women and Slavery in Africa,” (Oxford Research Encyclopedias 31 March 2020)
↑ Getz, Trevor R.; Clarke, Liz (2012). Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. Oxford University Press USA. pp. 111, 128. ISBN 978-0-19-984439-5. Search this book on