FOREMOTHERS

Over the past 500 years, the African Diaspora has both erased and created an extraordinary number of cultures throughout the world. By their very nature, these cultures are separated by time and space despite shared origins. Foremothers: 500 Years of Heroines from the African Diaspora, a debut work of history by Kovie Biakolo, gathers these stories together and gives a voice to the African and African-descended women who are often excised from history’s narrative. These trailblazers have been relegated to footnotes and niche studies, but their lives as revolutionaries, artists, and activists have the power to inspire just as they themselves did when they were living. Using each woman’s life, the culture they inhabited, and time in which they lived as a through-line, Kovie links seven women chronologically into a greater whole, revealing a remarkable influence on history -- and one in which Black women are not seen as other. 

From the 18th century’s Nanny of the Maroons, who pioneered guerilla tactics to Cécile Fatiman who used Voudou to prophesize a successful slave revolt to Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the 19th century’s first black woman to become a doctor in the United States to Brenda Fassie, Africa’s 20th century anti-apartheid, queer music icon — these women’s accomplishments illustrate the diversity of experience but also the common challenges and triumphs they experience as powerful women in their own time. 

Kovie is a writer, editor, and multiculturalism scholar specializing in culture and identity. She’s the former Senior Editor of the Arts & Entertainment section at BuzzFeed News, and was the Executive Producer for the BuzzFeed News Twitter culture show, Hella Opinions. Her work, which is featured in various publications, includes critical analysis and reporting of race, nationality, and pop culture, among other subjects. Kovie has also taught Intercultural Communications at DePaul University as an adjunct professor. She lives in Brooklyn.