Women Warriors of the Caribbean

Native American women led their peoples' fight against the Spaniards and enslaved African women led or played important roles in revolts by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean as well as women who fought in battle as members of Haiti's or Venezuela's revolutionary armies, achieving equality in combat roles more than two hundred years before women in the USA attained that status in 2013.

When accounts of historical events are being recorded, the role played by women is usually completely ignored or minimized. When the protagonists are women of color as was the case in the Caribbean and the persons recording these events are European men, then these women come face to face with both racism and sexism.

We have to view with skepticism European assertions that African women who led or planned revolts or who were influential in maroon societies were 'witches' or were steeped in witchcraft. This characterization fits into their narrative that Africans were ignorant, superstitious savages who could be manipulated by 'witches'.

Acknowledging those obstacles, this represents an effort to give those women the recognition they deserve with the awareness that the full contribution of women to the attainment of freedom for the peoples of the Caribbean may never be known.