Superheroes and Princesses

Today a friend showed me a picture of his adorable 1 year-old daughter dressed up as a princess. The picture was taken at a birthday party where the boys (3 – 6 year olds) were superheroes and the girls were princesses. I immediately “attacked” him questioning why the girls couldn’t be superheroes. Why, I asked, did they have to be princesses? (I had just finished reading The Warrior Method by Dr. Raymond Winbush.) My concern was that the boys were being conditioned to view their sisters as stereotypes. Of course  my friend  thinks that I was blowing it out of proportion.

Well, for the record, I have no problem with our girls being princesses. Princesses come from Queens. And, most importantly, Princesses become Queens!

Queen Nzingha of Angola defeated the Portuguese repeatedly when they refused to respect the country’s peace treaty. She was smart, strategic, charming, beautiful, strong, and well-respected.

nzingha

Queen Amina of Nigeria was famous for her bravery and military exploits and was successful in conquering cities to extend the state of Zazzau. She was also an architect known for creating strong mud walls to protect her military conquests.

QueenAmina

Queen Yaa Asantewa of Ghana was an Ashanti leader. She led the rebellion against British colonialism known as the War of the Golden Stool. When the Asante government couldn’t agree on how to rescue their king from exile by the Europeans, Queen Yaa Asantewa is quoted as saying “…if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.”

YaaAsantewa

I encourage you to spend some time learning about our superSHEroes and share the knowledge with the superheroes and princesses in your life!