42 pages • 1 hour read
Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History
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Part 5, Chapters 20-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 5: “Engaging Abina”
Part 5, Chapter 20 Summary: “Gendering Abina”
Part 5 examines academic essays that treat historical documents as “living texts” and arose in response to the original publication of Abina and the Important Men (161). The authors want readers to critically engage with the ideas in this section, including the role of gender in Abina’s story, the nature and meaning of slavery, and the cultural dynamics that come with shifting identities and colonialism.
The subsection “Gender and Slavery in the Gold Coast” discusses the labor shortage in the Gold Coast and how this need drove an increase of enslaved women because work like processing palm oil was seen as a woman’s job. Women were also valued as potential wives who could produce children. Despite this trend, there were still plenty of areas around the Gold Coast that practiced male slavery, including men enslaved by women, but there aren’t many records of the treatment of enslaved women under women enslavers.
The next subsection, “Colonial Paternalism,” describes the way British patriarchy and their colonization of the Gold Coast led to the rise of patriarchal systems in the region. This patriarchy extended beyond men being placed in positions of power to the domestic domains, where the British concept of the “father” enabled a disciplinary dynamic that shielded men who enslaved children. This idea of male dominance and power over women existed in Akan society prior to the arrival of the British, but British influence compounded the issue.
The next subsection, “Marriage and Respectability,” considers the nature of marriage and its close relation to slavery in the Gold Coast. Being married was a socially advantageous position in Akan society because unmarried Akan women weren’t afforded protections. This attitude toward marriage shaped much of Akan women’s lives from the structure of their roles to local proverbs. Married women were considered respectable and offered security, which is why women like Abina worked so hard to prove their marriages. If Abina were viewed as married, she’d be afforded the privileges of a free woman rather than an enslaved person—a word which becomes harder to define the more it’s examined.
Part 5, Chapter 21 Summary: “Was Abina a Slave?”
The complex question of whether or not Abina is an enslaved person becomes trickier with differences in culture and language. Judge Melton tries to impose the British definition of the word during the trial, but conflicting accounts of Abina’s time with Quamina Eddoo further complicate the issue. The next few chapters are essays that explore these complex ideas.
Part 5, Chapter 22 Summary: “‘Who Was Abina Mansah?’” by Sandra Greene
Sandra Greene’s essay examines the testimonies from Abina’s case to understand her as a person. Because of Abina’s detailed descriptions of her various moves and company, historians can reconstruct some of the past, like how Abina mentioned being taken by Asante general Adu Bofo. These descriptions also reveal her linguistic history. Given Abina’s husband Yaw Awoah’s status as a trader, it’s likely he used Abina to do manual labor—carrying goods and providing intimacy. Abina’s culture dictates the transfer of gifts between a husband and his wife’s family, but this didn’t happen with Abina, who had a transient life with limited choice. Yaw Awoah’s gift of beads acted as a stand-in symbol for their marriage, but his true intent—whether he wanted to make Abina complacent, or the beads were an actual symbol of marriage—is unknown. Though many questions about Abina’s life remain, her decision to flee and pursue justice in court despite the odds proves her strength.
Part 5, Chapter 23 Summary: “Was Abina Mansah a ‘Slave‘?” by Kwasi Konadu
Kwasi Konadu’s essay explores Abina’s attempts to forge her own identity in the face of the forces that sought to control her. At times, Abina viewed herself as enslaved, because she was a servant without rights, and other times, she may have seen herself as more free, like when she chose to marry. The essay explores whether or not being coerced into marriage qualifies as slavery, and how patriarchal society created a reliance on men. Given the complex nature of slavery and Abina’s shifting roles throughout her life, her status is ultimately up to interpretation. There were times when Abina was enslaved and without proper legal emancipation, and others when she was also able to get married and forge a life for herself.
Part 5, Chapter 24 Summary: “Sex and Slavery in the 1876 Case of Abina Mansah” by Antoinette Burton
Antoinette Burton’s essay examines the role of sex in slavery, particularly related to Abina’s claim that her husband, Yowahwah (Yaw Awoah), purchased her as an enslaved person, during which time he had her sleep with him—a claim which Yowahwah denied. Anthropologists have tried to examine how society’s view of sex at the time fit in with their understanding of family life and slavery, but little is known about these views. The court transcript is a core piece of proof, but doesn’t reveal much about Abina’s emotional state or thoughts on the topic; however, it does suggest that sex was a form of power men wielded over women, and neither Yowahwah nor Quamina Eddoo saw any consequences for their enslavement of Abina.
Part 5, Chapter 25 Summary: “Reading Questions”
The reading questions are categorized as introductory questions for students at all levels, questions for students at the collegiate level, and additional questions for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.
Part 5, Chapter 26 Summary: “Timeline”
The timeline is a graphic beginning with the year of 1300, with the establishment of the first Akan-speaking state, and traces major historical events relevant to the Gold Coast up until 2011 when the novel was published.
Part 5, Chapter 27 Summary: “Further Resources”
The further resources include a comprehensive list of readings and web resources with context on how they might be useful on the following subjects: Abina Mansah, slavery and abolition in the Gold Coast, colonialism and the Gold Coast, general histories of Africa, imperialism and colonialism, and gender and African history.
Part 5, Chapter 28 Summary: “Preliminary Sketches”
The preliminary sketches address issues with representation in a visual format because it’s difficult to know exactly how people looked, dressed, and carried themselves without photographs to reference. Rather than rely on guesswork, the novel’s illustrators studied many different newspapers and woodcuts to determine the time period’s general style, but details like Abina’s beads will always be unknown. The illustrators include headshots and full-body poses of Abina Mansah, Quamina Eddoo, William Melton, James Davis, Eccoah Coom, and James Hutton Brew, as well as smaller sketches of settings and secondary characters.
Part 5, Chapters 20-28 Analysis
Part 5 functions as a collection of resources to continue discussion of Abina’s life and history, as well as apply these questions to broader themes like The Nature of Freedom and what it means to pursue Justice in a World Built for Others. This section examines The Nature of Freedom through essays, like Kwasi Konadu’s “Was Abina Mansah a ‘Slave’?” and Antoinette Burton’s “Sex and Slavery in the 1876 Case of Abina Mansah” (177-81). Rather than merely offering his own interpretation of what it means to be an enslaved person, Trevor R. Getz engages diverse perspectives to give readers an opportunity to engage with ideas like the way “Abina’s voice appears in third person and where that voice was translated from a local idiom into a language as foreign to Abina as the past is to most of us” (177). These perspectives add depth to discussions that may have originally seemed straightforward. Modern readers understand Abina as having been treated as an enslaved person while under Quamina Eddo’s watch, but the historical language regarding slavery has been altered and simplified by time and translations. It’s important to consider these changes because elevating voices requires actually hearing and listening to relevant voices.
Interactive discussions are also raised about Justice in a World Built for Others, like how “the defendants were able to either discredit all of Abina’s arguments or trade on the assumption that would be deemed irrelevant” (184). This concept raises questions about whose assumptions shape justice. In Abina’s case as presented in the novel, it’s clear that justice wasn’t served—not to mention there being many enslaved people other than Abina who would never know freedom, despite it being legally dictated, due to the will of so-called important men. Part 5’s essays segue into reading questions for different age ranges, following the scaffolded pattern of Part 4 by beginning with fundamental questions and ending with more advanced questions. The inclusion of supplemental materials—like a glossary, timeline, and sketches—gives readers points of reference that reinforce the credibility of the author, their research, and their process. Through the discussions and resources provided, Part 5 acts as more of a starting place for conversations about the many untold stories of history and the role of authors in sharing them.
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