Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny (; born 17 September 1930) is the former

First Lady of Ivory Coast The first lady of Ivory Coast (French: ''Première dame de Côte d'Ivoire'') is the title attributed to the wife of the president of Ivory Coast. The current first lady is Dominique Ouattara, who has held the office since 11 April 2011. (Domi ...

. Her husband was

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, pr ...

, the first President of Ivory Coast from 1962 to 1993. She was born in 1930 in a suburb of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...

. She was one of her parents' six children. When Brou was 16 years old, she and nineteen other Ivorian girls were chosen to attend private school in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. While living in France, she met her husband,

, when she was 21 years old. Houphouët-Boigny was more than 25 years older than her. Brou and Houphouët-Boigny married in 1952, shortly after he divorced his first wife that same year. Houphouët-Boigny caught the eye of the media during 1962 visit to the Kennedy White House, and was dubbed "Africa's Jackie" or '

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

Jackie Kennedy" by the media. In 1987, Houphouët-Boigny founded the N'Daya International Foundation, dedicated to improving the health, welfare, and education of children in Africa. As the Foundation's president, she led numerous projects in support of children. In 1989, she helped create and produce '' Kimboo'', an animated series aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

, to offer cartoon heroes to African children. Houphouët-Boigny was the first lady of the Ivory Coast for 33 years, until her husband's death in 1993. Félix and Marie-Thérèse did not have any biological children, but adopted three children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houphouet-Boigny, Marie-Therese Living people 1930 births First ladies of Ivory Coast