Hannah Augusta Darling Jawara (''née'' Mahoney; May 1924 – 21 January 1981), was a Gambian nurse, playwright and activist for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. She was the first wife (from 1955 to 1967) of Sir

Dawda Jawara Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (16 May 1924 – 27 August 2019) was a Gambian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970, and then as the first President of the Gambia from 1970 to 1994. Jawara was born in Barajally, MacCarthy Island ...

Prime Minister of the Gambia Prime Minister of the Gambia, known as Chief Minister from 1961–1962, was the head of government in the Gambia Colony and Protectorate, and later The Gambia, from 1961 to 1970. The position was only held by two people, Pierre Sarr N'Jie and ...

Life

Hannah Augusta Darling Mahoney was born to a prominent Christian Aku Creole family. She was the daughter of Sir John Mahoney, the first Speaker of the Legislative Council of the Gambia, and his wife, Hannah. Augusta's sister was

Louise N'Jie Louise Antoinette N'Jie, ( Mahoney; 23 January 1922 – 22 May 2014) was a Gambian teacher, feminist and politician who was the first woman to serve as a cabinet minister in The Gambia. Early life and education Louise Antoinette Mahoney was ...

. She studied at Mohammedan High School, where she first met her future husband, (future president)

, before training in nursing in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

."Scots in Gambia"
''The Glasgow Herald'', 11 February 1965, p. 8. Accessed 21 November 2012. In February 1955, she married

. Their first child was born in Edinburgh, where her husband had returned to study. In 1960, she stood for election to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the 1960 elections, contesting Soldier Town in Bathurst unsuccessfully for her husband's party, the PPP. She thereby became the first woman candidate to stand in a Gambian national election. In 1962, she established the Women's Contemporary Society. Her play, ''The African King'', was produced at the Negro Arts Festival in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

in 1966. In 1967, she and Dawda Jawara divorced, and he reconverted to Islam. In 1968, she published ''Rebellion'' - "perhaps the first avowedly feminist, pro-girl child book in The Gambia's literary history and tradition". Published under a pseudonym, ''Rebellion'' was a play about Nyasta, a teenage girl in a rural village who struggles to continue her education rather than suffer an arranged marriage. At the time it was published, she was President of the Gambia Women's Federation, which she helped to establish from women's associations in the Greater Banjul Area.Isatou Njie-Saidy
Keynote Address
, 8 March 2001.

Death

Augusta Jawara died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 21 January 1981, aged 56.

Works

Plays

* ''The African King'', produced 1966. * ''Rebellion'', 1968

Other

* "The Gambia Women's Federation", ''Women Today'', Vol. 6, No. 4 (1965), pp. 79–81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawara, Augusta 1924 births 1981 deaths Gambian nurses Gambian women writers Gambian dramatists and playwrights Gambian activists Gambian women's rights activists Gambian Creole people Gambian Christians 20th-century women writers 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Women dramatists and playwrights Gambian expatriates in the United Kingdom Wives of knights