MUHAMMAD SPEAKS
MAY 22. 1964
19
Women: Hidden Heroes I n Africa's Upheaval
"...Of heroes unknown, As great as the Greatest Heroes Known..."
By . Charles p. Howard, Sr. (UN
and Foreign
Correspondent)
NAIROBI, Kenya—The hidden heroes hehind the African revolution—^from the sands of Egypt down to the snowcapped mountains of Kenya—have heen and remain its hrilliant and hrave hiack women. When the true story of the great African upheaval is ago, Mary Muthoni led huntold, the role of black wom- dreds of angry hut unarmed en will reveal them not only Africans past the Norfolk as tbe very "soul" of that Hotel in Nairohi and grouped revolt, but as tbe m o s t re- them aroond the police stalentless and ardent cham- tion where the British conpions of freedom tbe world stahulary was holding one of Kenya's early militant freebas known. One stark example is tbe dom fighters, Harry Thuku. history of women's particiTbe demonstrators chantpation in Kenya—^tbe nation ed freedom slogans and dewhich spawned the dreaded manded tbe r e l e a s e of Tbuku, who bad been arrested because bis group of militants challenged tbe colonial system and protested t h e oppressive measures taken against Africans. Chief S e c r e t a r y Sir Charles Bowring arrogantly refused their demand and ordered them to disperse—or else. At a signal from Mary Muthoni, tbe Africans rushed to the aluminiun sheet wall of tbe p o l i c e station and tried to pull it down. British police fired into tbe ranks of the weaponless Africans, killing more than 30 and woimding many otbers. Mary Muthoni, whose heroics of 1922 were documented by Kenyan historians, (Continued on page 23)
SCARCELY KNOWN OUTSIDE her native Togoiand, Madame Marguerite Adjoavi Trenou, Secretary General of the Union of Women of Togolond, symbolizes the indomitable spirit of African women through-
oat the continent whose basic leadership in the struggle for a better life for their people is, perhaps, the most heroic aspect of Africa today. Mrs. Trenou is shown here teoching a class in basic union leadership.
ARTWORK BY MAIL ORDER
FACE of a fighter — This Kenyan girl, a member of the Mou Mmi, only surrendered her arms when Kenya celebrated its independence. Mau Mau revolt against the British years before other revolts "caught on." Though Kenya now is free, it was n o t accomplished without tbe h e r o i c s and back-breaking labor of Kenyan women, who, over tbe long years of the struggle, gave their lives, were imprisoned, beaten, crippled and widowed. As in all revolutions, tbe m a j o r i t y of those who worked hard and sacrificed mucb for tbe cause are but faceless and nameless shadows of tbe past. For eacb name captured by tbe historians, hundreds are lost in tbe fast shuffle of time and events. But more than 40 years
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TANGANYIKAN WOMEN bearing the burden not only of "mates to the mothers," but of the day-to-day fight for survival as they walk in majestic posture, carrying the
day's cotton harvest. In Tanganyika these working women formed the core of fighters for freedom from colonialism.
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