There have always been women who broke the barriers that were set for them by a patriarchical society. African women who broke these barriers during a time when all they were seen as was chattel are especially phenomenal. The women in this article are just some of the many women who lived before their time and smashed those barriers!

1. by Murphy Browne
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
© Tuesday, October 27, 2015
It is almost the end of October: Women’s History Month in Canada and African
History/Black History Month in the United Kingdom (UK.) The history of African
women in the UK includes the first woman known to work as a sailor in the Royal
Navy. "Seaman William Brown" was actually an African Caribbean woman (born in
Grenada) who disguised herself as a man and sailed on the ’HMS Queen Charlotte.’
She was discharged on 19 June 1815 ’for being a female.’ Not much else is known
about this young woman except what is written on page 64 of the ’Annual
Register’ of 1815.
This information from the ’UK National Archives’ describes the young African
woman who is recognized as the first woman sailor in the Royal Navy: ’Amongst
the crew of the Queen Charlotte, 110 guns, recently paid off, is now discovered,
was a female African, who served as a seaman in the Royal Navy for upwards of
eleven years, several of which she has been rated able on the books of the above
ship by the name of William Brown, and has served for some time as the captain
of the fore-top, highly to the satisfaction of the officers. She is a smart well
formed-figure, about five feet four inches in height, possessed of considerable
strength and great activity; her features are rather handsome for a black, and
she appears to be about 26 years of age. Her share of prize money is said to be
considerable, respecting which she has been several times within the last few
days at Somerset-place. In her manner she exhibits all the traits of a British
tar, and takes her grog with her late mess-mates with the greatest gaiety. She
says she is a married woman; and went to sea in consequence of a quarrel with
her husband, who, it is said, has entered a caveat against her receiving her
prize money. She declares her intention of again entering the service as a
volunteer."
The story of William Brown is also told in the 2012 published book ’Black Salt:
Seafarers of African Descent on British Ships’ by African British historian Ray
Costello. Costello wrote: ’During the Napoleonic period, an intriguing story of
an African woman serving as a sailor was reported in The Times of 2, September
1815. She was said to be a crew member of HMS Queen Charlotte and had ostensibly
served in the Royal Navy for more than eleven years, having been an able seaman
on several ships under the name of William Brown.’
There is no mention of the real name of the ’woman in disguise sailor’ who went
by the name William Brown. There is no information about her life after she was
discharged from the Royal Navy. If she left the ship in the UK then she was a
free woman since slavery was illegal in the UK in 1815. However slavery in
Grenada was legal until August 1, 1834 and ’apprenticeship’ which was just
another name for the continuation of enslavement of Africans in the British
colonized Caribbean islands ended on August 1, 1838.
How did an African woman enlist on a ship of the Royal Navy in the 1800s during
slavery? According to Costello African men both enslaved and free were either
forced or enticed to work as sailors on British ships from as early as 1702
when: ’The Royal African Company orders enslaved young Africans for use on the
company’s ships, known as ’privilege negroes.’’ Some of the enslaved African
seamen were able to gain their freedom. Olaudah Equiano was one of the more
famous Africans who managed to gain his freedom after being enslaved on a
plantation in Montserrat. He had been enslaved from 1757 to 1766 during which
time he worked for the seafaring men who enslaved him. He was bought and sold
several times before gaining his freedom. He travelled to Britain, and in 1789

2. published his autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah
Equiano Or Gustavus Vassa, The African“ which he used in the fight against
slavery. He eventually became one of the best known African abolitionists.
Many of the enslaved Africans who worked as sailors gained their freedom by
fleeing the ships when they docked in Britain. In his 2000 published book “Black
Atlantic Politics: Dilemmas of Political Empowerment in Boston and Liverpool“
African American historian William Edward Nelson Jr., wrote: “Black seamen
attached to merchant ships began to make their permanent homes in Liverpool.“
There was an established African community in Liverpool after slavery was
abolished in Britain 1772. In “Black Atlantic Politics“ Nelson also wrote that:
“The Black community in Liverpool is one of the oldest in Britain. The roots of
the Liverpool Black community date back to at least the eighteenth century. Some
members of Liverpool“s Black community entered as slaves. Evidence that Blacks
were sold as slaves in Liverpool can be found in advertisements that appeared in
local newspapers from 1750 through 1790. Slave auctions continued to be held in
Liverpool up to 1780 despite the formal abolition of slavery in Great Britain in
1772.“
There was another wave of Africans who settled in Liverpool beginning after the
American War of Independence when Africans who had fought on the side of the
British were freed and became members of the United Empire Loyalists. Some of
those African members of United Empire Loyalists were resettled in Liverpool
while others were resettled in Canada.
The British had issued formal proclamations encouraging enslaved Africans to
abandon their slave holders and serve in the military forces of the British
monarchy. They were promised freedom in exchange for service in the war against
their former American enslavers. The many Africans who fled their enslavers to
serve the British in the war were United Empire Loyalists. The story of an
African woman whose family was resettled in Canada as United Empire Loyalists is
important as part of Canada“s history and “Women“s History.“
Rose Fortune who is recognized as Canada“s first female police officer was a
child when she and her parents were resettled in Nova Scotia as members of the
United Empire Loyalists. As an adult an enterprising Rose Fortune started her
own business in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia carting luggage in a wheelbarrow
from the ferry docks to inns and hotels. Fortune ran a successful business
because many passengers were willing to pay to have their heavy luggage
delivered to their doors.
She later instituted a curfew in the town maintaining order on the wharves and
around the warehouses as the police officer of Annapolis Royal. Fortune was
obviously an enterprising woman because “she also offered a wake-up service to
customers to make certain they caught their boat to Digby or Saint John on
time.“ From Parks Canada website (http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-
nhs/ns/fortanne/natcul/People/Fortune.aspx) there is this information about
Fortune: “Around 1852, a Lieutenant-Colonel Sleigh of the 77th Regiment wrote of
an encounter with Rose Fortune: “I was aided in my hasty efforts to quit the
abominable inn [where he had been staying] by a curious old Negro woman, rather
stunted in growth“and dressed in a man“s coat and felt hat. She had a small
stick in her hand which she applied lustily to the back of all who did not jump
instantly out of the way. She was evidently a privileged character.““ African
Canadian Rose Fortune like African Caribbean sailor “William Brown“ were both
women before their time who operated outside of what was considered a woman“s
place at the time they lived. Both of these women deserve to be placed in the
history books.

3. by Murphy Browne
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
© Tuesday, October 27, 2015