This episode features the inspiring story of Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary, an African American woman born enslaved who became a legendary mail carrier in Montana. She defied racial and gender barriers, showcasing resilience, loyalty, and strength in the face of adversity.

Takeaways

*Mary Fields' early life and slavery in Tennessee
*Her journey to Montana and life on the frontier
*Her role as the first African American woman mail carrier
*Her relationships with Native Americans and white communities
*Her defiance of gender and racial norms

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mary Fields
01:11 Mary Fields: A Life of Resilience
03:34 From Enslavement to Freedom
08:15 Friendship Across Boundaries
13:00 Challenges in the Wild West
16:23 Becoming Stagecoach Mary
24:16 Trailblazing as a Mail Carrier
26:24 The Commitment to Delivering Mail
28:11 The Importance of Community and Connection
29:43 Resilience and Overcoming Adversity
30:38 Building a Life and Community
32:32 Reflections on Identity and Humanity
34:16 Legacy and Impact
40:21 Understanding Historical Contexts
44:06 The Complexity of Freedom and Oppression
47:32 Empowering Future Generations

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

She was a princess, a Cambridge-trained lawyer, the first Black woman on the pages of Harper's Bazaar, a foreign minister under one of Africa's most feared dictators — and she said NO when that dictator demanded she marry him. This week on Women and Resistance, we tell the full, extraordinary, and largely untold story of Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya Akiiki of Tooro.

Born in 1936 into the ancient Tooro Kingdom of what is now Uganda, Princess Elizabeth navigated colonial education systems, broke racial barriers at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, survived Idi Amin's regime, fled into exile disguised as a village girl, won landmark libel cases in the British press, walked the runways of New York and London as one of the world's first Black supermodels, and returned home to serve her continent as a diplomat and guardian of her people's culture.

Her life is not just a biography — it is a thesis on what African women's resistance looks like across decades of colonial erasure, post-independence political upheaval, patriarchal power, and the relentless weaponisation of beauty against Black excellence.

This in-depth conversation with Elizabeth of Toro, a Ugandan princess, lawyer, and diplomat, shares her extraordinary life story, cultural heritage, and insights on African history, colonialism, and resilience.

Takeaways

*History of Toro Kingdom and African kingdoms
*Colonialism and its impact on Africa
*The role of women in African leadership and resistance
*Personal journey of Elizabeth of Toro from princess to diplomat
*Cultural preservation and revival in Africa

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Princess Elizabeth of Toro
01:39 Growing Up in the Kingdom of Toro
04:28 Cultural Heritage and Identity
08:24 Education and Challenges Abroad
13:44 Historical Context of the Kingdom of Toro
19:30 Colonial Influences and Transformations
28:21 The Role of Women in Leadership
35:16 Reflections on Independence and Legacy
36:19 The Impact of Colonialism on Traditional Societies
38:45 Navigating Exile and Identity
41:47 Modelling as a Means of Survival
43:47 The Rise and Fall of Political Power
47:15 The Role of Women in Politics
52:34 Facing Adversity and Resilience
57:27 Love and Loss in Turbulent Times
01:00:49 Restoration and Legacy
01:03:14 Lessons in Identity and Courage

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

This is a story about Black motherhood as resistance. About the legal limits of so-called “freedom.” About the Freedmen’s Bureau — what it promised, what it delivered, and where it catastrophically failed. And it’s about the unbroken thread that runs from Monemia McKoy to Mamie Till-Mobley to Sybrina Fulton to every Black mother who has ever had to fight for the right to simply keep her child.

In This Episode

*Who Monemia McKoy was — and why her name deserves to be spoken alongside the great resisters of history
*The sale and commodification of conjoined twins Millie and Christine from infancy
*Monemia’s transatlantic journey to reclaim her children from England
*The 1865 Freedmen’s Bureau custody trial — what Jacob and Monemia did right, and how the system still failed them
*The shrewd legal strategy behind the McCoy-drafted contract with Ladd & Cartwright
*The chilling reversal by Bureau agent Clinton Cilley — and what it reveals about Reconstruction justice
*The legacy of Black motherhood as a political act across centuries

Takeaways

*The story of Monemia McCoy and her conjoined twin daughters
*The impact of slavery and racial capitalism on Black families
*The resilience and activism of Millie and Chrissy McCoy
*The fight for dignity and recognition beyond exploitation
*The importance of preserving and telling Black history from Black perspectives

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Story of Monemia McCoy
03:13 The Birth of the Conjoined Twins
07:23 The Sale and Exploitation of the Twins
11:11 The Journey to England and Legal Battles
15:27 Reunion and Life After
21:05 The Unique Bond of Co-joined Twins
23:11 Life as Performers and Their Artistic Journey
28:50 Emancipation and Taking Control of Their Lives
32:13 Defining Their Identity Beyond Spectacle
36:44 Legacy and Philanthropy in Their Community
40:16 Facing Mortality and Final Reflections

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

Mbokomu, the Ancestor Goddess of the Ngombe

What if the first woman on Earth wasn’t a passive creation — but a divine disruptor? What if she were sent down not because she was weak, but because she was too powerful to be contained?

This week on Women and Resistance, hosts Aya Fubara Eneli Esq. and Adesoji Iginla dive deep into one of Central Africa’s most captivating and under-explored mythological figures: Mbokomu, the ancestor goddess of the Ngombe people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Daughter of the supreme creator god Akongo, the first gardener, the mother of all humanity — and, depending on who you ask, the reason time itself sometimes slows to a crawl.

In this enlightening episode, Mbokomu shares profound African creation stories, emphasising the importance of remembering our roots, cultivating harmony, and understanding our spiritual connection to the universe.

Through rich narratives from the Congo and Yoruba traditions, listeners are invited to reconnect with ancestral wisdom and embrace their role in nurturing life.

We unpack the Ngombe creation myth and ask the questions that Western scholarship often doesn’t: What does it mean that the origin of humanity in this tradition is a woman who caused problems? How do African cosmologies encode ideas of female agency, ecological sovereignty, and ancestral power? And what happens to those stories when colonialism arrives to burn the archive?

From the Congo River basin to the mountains of Venus — yes, Venus — Mbokomu’s name echoes across centuries and galaxies. We also connect her story to the very real struggles of Congolese women today: from Maria N’koi’s 1915 insurrection against Belgian colonial rule, to the extraordinary courage of modern activists like Julienne Lusenge fighting sexual violence in the DRC.

This is mythology as resistance. This is ancestry as armour.

Takeaways

*African cosmology and creation stories
*The role of Mbokomu as the first woman and gardener
*The spiritual significance of rivers and water in African traditions
*The story of Obatala and the creation of Earth in Yoruba mythology
*The impact of colonisation on African oral traditions and knowledge
*The importance of remembering and reconnecting with ancestral wisdom

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mbokomu's Legacy
01:44 The Essence of Creation and Nurturing Life
03:39 The Journey from Heaven to Earth
05:44 The First Garden and Humanity's Roots
07:45 Resilience and the Philosophy of Creation
09:49 The Impact of Displacement and Spiritual Exhaustion
11:50 The Role of Memory and Storytelling
13:56 African Cosmologies and Cultural Survival
16:14 The Importance of Understanding Our Origins
22:48 The Sky Kingdom and Olorun's Creation
24:07 Obatala's Quest for Purpose
26:00 The Descent to Earth
28:52 The Birth of Ife
31:21 Obatala's Creation of Humanity
34:36 The Role of the Chameleon and Divine Intervention
37:00 The Dogon People and Their Wisdom
41:22 Yurugu's Arrogance and the Consequences
47:58 The Seeds of Destruction
50:35 The Call to Remember and Reconnect

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

🎙️ SEASON 4 REVIEW | Women & Resistance Podcast

They resisted empires, fought colonial armies, rebuilt broken communities, and wrote words that outlived every system that tried to erase them.

In this special review episode, hosts Adesoji Iginla and Aya Fubara Eneli, Esq., look back at the twelve extraordinary women featured this season — women whose courage, sacrifice, and genius shaped history across four continents.

From Sarah Baartman to Yaa Asantewaa. From Ida B. Wells to Audre Lorde. From the shores of Senegal to the lecture halls of London. Their silence was never an option — and neither is ours.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
IN THIS EPISODE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Sarah Baartman — Khoikhoi woman, colonised body, enduring sovereignty
► Ellen Kuzwayo — Social worker, writer, and architect of community under apartheid
► Sarah Parker Remond — Black abolitionist who took on the British Empire
► La Mulâtresse Solitude — Freedom fighter, executed the morning after giving birth
► Victoria Santa Cruz — Poet and choreographer of Afro-Peruvian reclamation
► Queen Mother Moore — Nearly a century of organising for reparations and Pan-Africanism
► Yvonne Vera — Zimbabwe's most luminous novelist, writing the bodies history forgot
► Fannie Lou Hamer — Sharecropper's daughter who made Congress listen
► Ndaté Yalla Mbodj — The last great warrior queen of Waalo, Senegal
► Ida B. Wells — Journalist, anti-lynching crusader, and unbreakable truth-teller
► Audre Lorde — Poet, warrior, and architect of intersectional thought
► Yaa Asantewaa — Queen Mother who led the last great Asante resistance

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Key Takeaways
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

*Stories of 12 remarkable women across season 4
*Themes of resistance, resilience, and empowerment
*Challenges in researching and representing women's stories
*Tools and strategies used by women for resistance
*Impact of historical and contemporary struggles

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Chapters
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

00:00 Introduction to Women and Resistance Podcast
02:34 Inspiration Behind Women and Resistance
05:13 Challenges in Portraying Historical Figures
10:32 Emotional Impact of the Stories
15:49 Selection Process for Featured Women
21:15 Current Issues and Historical Context
22:14 The Reality of Women's Struggles Today
24:38 Understanding the Impact of Patriarchy
27:04 Lessons from Historical Figures
28:58 The Quest for Reparations
32:04 Addressing Myths and Taboos
34:52 The Power of Different Tools in Activism
38:18 Intergenerational Responsibility and Mentorship
40:39 The Role of Spirituality in Resistance
46:30 Exploring Audre Lorde's Legacy
50:50 The Importance of Healing in Activism
52:49 Surprising Stories of Influential Women
56:21 Addressing Male Violence and Its Impact
01:01:38 Embracing Authenticity in Representation

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

What does it mean to resist when the whole world has decided your body is a spectacle?

In this episode Aya Fubara Eneli, Esq. and Adesoji Iginla sit with one of the most shattering stories in the long history of Black women’s resistance: the life of Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, who was taken to Europe in 1810, exhibited as a freak show attraction under the racist name “Hottentot Venus,” and whose remains were not returned to her homeland until 2002 nearly 200 years after her death.

This episode explores the life and legacy of Sarah Baartman (played by Aya), a woman whose story highlights the brutal history of racial exploitation, dehumanisation, and resistance. Through her narrative, we reflect on the ongoing fight for human dignity and the importance of remembering and honouring our history.

But Saartjie Baartman’s story is not simply a tragedy. It is a story of a woman who kept her tortoise-shell necklace across oceans, who refused to fully undress for European scientists even when offered money, who spoke five languages, danced her people's traditions, and played music until the end. It is a story of the Khoikhoi people who had already survived centuries of colonial violence before she was born. And it is a story of poets, activists, scholars, lawyers, and heads of state who refused to let her remain dishonoured.

► IN THIS EPISODE:

*The Khoikhoi world Sarah was born into — and what colonialism had already stolen from her people
*How she ended up in London and Paris, and what the historical record does and does not tell us about her consent
*The court case of 1810: abolitionist theatre or genuine advocacy?
*The science of dehumanisation: how Georges Cuvier and European “scientists” weaponised her body
*The long fight to bring her home — from Nelson Mandela’s request to Diana Ferrus’s poem that changed French law
*What her story reveals about the Black female body as a contested political site — then and now
*Contemporary resonances: from the Williams sisters to Kim Kardashian, and why these comparisons matter
*What resistance looked like from inside Saartjie’s own skin

Takeaways

*The life of Sarah Bateman and her historical context
*The brutal exploitation and dehumanisation of Black bodies in history
*The ongoing fight for racial justice and human dignity
*The importance of remembering and honouring marginalised histories

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Sarah Baartman's Story
01:47 The Early Life of Sarah Baartman
03:18 Colonial Exploitation and the Journey to Europe
04:39 The Exhibition and Objectification of Sarah Baartman
06:32 The Legal Battle and Public Perception
07:49 Life in Europe and the Struggles of Identity
09:32 The Dehumanisation and Racial Science
10:54 The Legacy of Sarah Baartman
14:11 The Struggles of Identity and Humanity
16:44 The Legacy of Exploitation and Misrepresentation
20:17 The Fight for Dignity and Recognition
26:57 A Call to Action Against Racism and Exploitation

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

She was a teacher who refused to teach poison. A social worker who went to prison for housing rights. A writer who threw stones with her mouth. A politician who entered Parliament at 79. Her name was Ellen Kuzwayo — and the world called her Mama Soweto.

In this episode of the Women and Resistance Podcast, hosts Adesoji Iginla and Aya Fubara Eneli Esq. sit with the extraordinary life of Nnoseng Ellen Kate Kuzwayo (1914–2006) — South African freedom fighter, author, community leader, and one of the most complete embodiments of Afrocentric resistance the modern world has ever witnessed.

From the fertile red soil of Thaba Nchu to the burning streets of Soweto. From a classroom she walked away from on moral grounds to a prison cell she walked out of unbroken. From the first autobiography ever published by a Black South African woman to the floor of South Africa's first multiracial Parliament — Ellen Kuzwayo's life is not just an inspiration. It is an instruction.

In this episode, we explore:
✊🏾 How a family's political heritage becomes a child's destiny
✊🏾 The 1953 Bantu Education Act and the courage it takes to refuse complicity
✊🏾 Domestic violence, liberation movements, and the double bind of Black womanhood
✊🏾 The 1976 Soweto Uprising and Ellen's detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
✊🏾 Call Me Woman — the landmark autobiography that made her the first Black person to win South Africa's CNA Literary Award
✊🏾 What Ellen Kuzwayo's 91-year arc teaches us about the long game of resistance
This is a conversation about land, language, identity, community, and the radical act of writing yourself into the historical record — because if you don't say it, it may not get said.

Keywords

*Childhood during apartheid
*Education under colonial rule and apartheid
*Women's struggle within the anti-apartheid movement
*Land dispossession and family history
*Activism, storytelling, and legacy

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Women and Resistance
00:56 Ellen Kuzwayo: A Life of Resistance
14:07 The Struggles of Marriage and Domestic Violence
18:21 The Journey to Freedom
24:33 Education as a Tool for Liberation
26:21 The Transition from Education to Social Work
27:30 Personal Struggles and the Fight for Freedom
31:57 Finding My Voice in Adversity
32:56 The Impact of the Bantu Education Act
33:39 Community Organising and Social Work
35:40 The Struggles of Women in Apartheid
37:00 Documenting Our History Through Film
39:10 The Soweto Uprising and Activism
41:41 Testifying for Truth and Reconciliation
42:54 Building Infrastructure for Change
43:44 Literary Achievements and Recognition
45:18 Entering Politics at 79
46:38 A Lifetime of Resistance and Legacy

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

She crossed the Atlantic in a winter storm. She was pushed down a staircase for sitting where she chose. She was denied a visa, expelled from schools she'd passed the entrance exams to enter, and told — by an entire nation — that her skin made her less than human.

And then she stood before 2,000 people in Edinburgh, Scotland, and made them listen.

Meet Sarah Parker Remond (1826–1894), an abolitionist, transatlantic activist, suffragist, and physician. Born free in Salem, Massachusetts, she delivered her first anti-slavery speech at 16, sued a Boston theatre for segregation and won in 1853 — decades before Rosa Parks and went on to become one of the most powerful Black female orators of the 19th century. Then she crossed an ocean and became even more.

In this episode of Women and Resistance, hosts Aya Fubara Eneli Esq. and Adesoji Iginla take a deep, Afrocentric dive into a life that most history books forgot to mention — tracing Sarah's journey from the abolitionist households of Salem, to the packed lecture halls of Manchester and Edinburgh, to the medical schools of Florence, Italy, where she earned her physician's degree at age 42 and practiced medicine for over 20 years.

Takeaways

*How the Remond family built a dynasty of Black excellence, entrepreneurship, and resistance across generations
*Why Sarah's decision to publicly name the sexual exploitation of enslaved Black women was one of the most radical acts of her era
*What it means that a Black American woman had to cross an ocean to feel received as a full human being — and what that still echoes today
*The connection between her 19th-century supply chain arguments to British cotton workers and modern corporate accountability movements
*Why she — and her sisters — chose permanent exile in Italy over return to the country they had devoted their lives to liberating

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Women in Resistance Podcast
01:25 The Legacy of Sarah Redmond
02:07 Aya Fubara's Background and Influences
05:04 The Fight for Freedom and Education
08:17 Experiences of Discrimination and Resilience
12:59 Activism and the Anti-Slavery Movement
16:37 Lecturing Across Borders
19:33 Challenging Prejudice and Speaking Truth
21:23 The Intersection of Race and Gender Issues
22:25 The Plight of Enslaved Women
23:02 Advocacy and Education in Britain
24:52 Geopolitics and the Civil War
27:00 Post-Civil War Advocacy
28:37 Life in Europe and Medical Practice
29:32 Reflections on Slavery and Society
35:47 Continuing the Fight for Freedom

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Welcome to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!