Place in History and Cultural Legacy
Yaa Asantewaa remains a much-loved figure in Asante history and the history of Ghana as a whole for the courage she showed in confronting injustice during the colonialism of the British. She is immortalized in the song:
- Koo koo hin koo
- Yaa Asantewaa ee!
- Obaa basia
- Ogyina apremo ano ee!
- Waye be egyae
- Na Wabo mmode
- ("Yaa Asantewaa
- The woman who fights before cannons
- You have accomplished great things
- You have done well")
To highlight the importance of encouraging more female leaders in Ghanaian society, the Yaa Asantewaa Girls' Secondary School was established at Kumasi in 1960 with funds from the Ghana Educational Trust.
In 2000, week-long centenary celebrations were held in Ghana to acknowledge Yaa Asantewaa's accomplishments. As part of these celebrations, a museum was dedicated to her at Kwaso in the Ejisu-Juaben District on 3 August 2000. Unfortunately, a fire there on 23 July 2004, destroyed several historical items, including her sandals and battle dress (batakarikese) seen in the photograph above. The current Queen-mother of Ejisu is Yaa Asantewaa II. A second Yaa Asantewaa festival was held 1–5 August 2006, in Ejisu.
The Yaa Asantewaa Centre in Maida Vale, west London, is an African-Caribbean arts and community centre. It took its name in 1986.
A television documentary by Ivor Agyeman-Duah entitled Yaa Asantewaa - The Exile of King Prempeh and the Heroism of An African Queen was premiered in Ghana in 2001.
A stage show written by Margaret Busby, Yaa Asantewaa: Warrior Queen, featuring master drummer Kofi Ghanaba and with a pan-African cast, toured the UK and Ghana in 2001-2001. A radio drama by the same author was also serialised 13-17 October 2003 on BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour.
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