Mabel Dove Danquah
Mabel Dove Danquah | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mabel Ellen Dove 1905 Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana) |
| Died | 1984 (aged 78–79) |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Other names | Marjorie Mensah; Dama Dumas; Ebun Alakija; Akosua Dzatsui |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, politician and writer |
| Notable work | The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for Mr Shaw (1934); Selected Writings of a Pioneer West African Feminist (2004) |
| Spouse(s) | J. B. Danquah (m, 1933; div. mid-1940s) |
| Relatives | Francis "Frans" Dove (father) Evelyn Dove (sister) Frank Dove (brother) |
Mabel Dove Danquah (1905 – 1984) was a Gold Coast-born (Now: Ghana) journalist, political activist, and creative writer, one of the earliest women in West Africa to work in these fields. As Francis Elsbend Kofigah notes in relation to Ghana's literary pioneers, "before the emergence of such strong exponents of literary feminism as Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo, there was Mabel Dove Danquah, the trail-blazing feminist." She used various pseudonyms in her writing for newspapers from the 1930s: "Marjorie Mensah" in The Times of West Africa; "Dama Dumas" in the African Morning Post; "Ebun Alakija" in the Nigerian Daily Times; and "Akosua Dzatsui" in the Accra Evening News. Entering politics in the 1950s before Ghana's independence, she became the first woman to be elected a member of any African legislative assembly. She created the awareness and the need for self-governance through her works.