Africans Resist

African rulers were coerced into selling thier own people or neighboring tribes into a very different slavery than what was practiced on the continent (Equiano). The choice: either raid villages, kidnapping your neighbors' wives, children and elders and sell them to European traders whose ships lay anchored off the coast, or to be sold themselves. This was not the case for all rulers, most notably Nzinga an Angolan warrior queen who resisted the Portugese in the early 17th century. She met with the governor, representing her brother the "ngola" (king). Here's another case of name switching or misinterpertation of names by Europeans who dubbed the entire country "Angola." Nzinga arrives at Luanda decked out in royal finery. She peeps game, realizing that the only seat in the room belongs to the governor. She calls over one of her girls who falls on her hands and knees and Nzinga takes her place on a human seat in the history of African resistance. She could not be moved, even though the governor tries to dehumanize...tries to debase her royal status and thow her off center. The governor's plan backfires, and the meeting results in a treaty on equal terms. Leaders like Nzinga are inspirational and like her predecessor Joan of Arc, who struggled against British oppression, her fight against the Portugese should be included in a curriculum marking African people as human agents of social change.