Adelaide Casely-Hayford, born on the 2nd of June in 1868, was a Sierra Leone Creole Pan-African feminist, educator, and author. Hayford established a vocational school for young girls in Sierra Leone that emphasized racial and cultural pride.
Hayford was born into an elite Sierra Leone family in Freetown, British Sierra Leone. She spent much of her youth in England and studying throughout the West, also studying music in Germany at the age of 17.
While in England, Adelaide married West African author and Pan-Africanist J. E. Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman). Their marriage may have influenced her transformation into a cultural nationalist.
In May 1914, Hayford returned to Sierra Leone, dedicating the rest of her life to educating African girls. In October 1923, she established the Girls’ Vocational School, one of the first educational institutions in Sierra Leone to provide young girls with an African-centered education, according to historian Keisha N. Blain.
Hayford frequently traveled throughout the world, giving a speaking tour in the United States on misconceptions about Africa. Author Brittany Rogers notes that these travels also exposed her to the exploitation of black female labor throughout the world.
Although her educational concept for young girls had a Victorian-influenced, middle class domesticity in mind, Rogers writes that these travels led Hayford to begin writing and speaking on matters of labor as well. Hayford died in her hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1960.
“Instantly my eyes were opened to the fact that the education meted out to [African people] had…taught us to despise ourselves. Our immediate need was an education which would instill into us a love of country, a pride of race, an enthusiasm for the black man’s capabilities, and a genuine admiration for Africa’s wonderful art work.”
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I mean, sure, we’re all trapped in these decaying prisons of flesh, but wouldn’t you like to move the furniture of your flesh prison around to be more comfortable? Or just do it to spite god?
Plus even if you’re never happy with the appearance of your meat battlemech, from what i understand getting your hormones worked out will help your mental health function. I know a woman who is like 6’3 with a receeding hairline, thought she couldn’t do it, and now she’s like three years in and seems like she’s much more steady and grounded. Not where she wants to be, but in a much better place than she was before she started hrt. Whether you’re ever happy with how your body looks, hormones will also greatly influence how your mind works, and how you interface and interact with your body.
Regardless, yeah, it sucks. We’re trapped in a society that will not shut up about how we should look and dress and move, and then we’ve got our own goals and desires for our bodies that can be difficult or infeasible, and we’re all fighting the clock. Turtles don’t have to deal with this. They don’t sit around thinking “i am not the turtle i desire to be”. But we had to go evolve thumbs and pass the mirror test and now everything is a damn mess.
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This in particular was good to hear. The whole post made me smile.
She’s an old, old acquaintance, i’ve watched her go through the whole process of self discovery and transition from a distance and she talks a lot now about feeling more stable, more true to herself, how a lot of hurt and anxieties she’s carried a long time have been laid aside in the process of being who she really is. She sounds happy. Like, she’s got her bad days, but she seems much happier, and when she’s not happy stronger.