10 fearless black female warriors who made their mark on history

Nehanda Nyakasikana

Nehanda Nyakasikana was a Shona spirit medium who led the fight against the British colonisers in what is now Zimbabwe in the 19th century.

She took her name from the spirit which possessed her and it gave her great status among her people. She became a spiritual, political and military leader of the Shona people, according to BBC.

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Nyakasikana significantly convinced her people to lead an uprising against the British South Africa Company’s colonization of Mashonaland and Matebeleland.

She played a key role in the First Chimurenga or Second Matabele War.

In 1897, Nyakasikana was captured and charged with murder. She was charged with ordering the beheading of Native Commissioner Pollard. Subsequently, she was hanged.

Nyakasikana later became a representation of the nationalist struggle for liberation in the 1960s and 1970s.  Her name is now prefixed by the heading of Mbuya, or grandmother.