Photo credits: Kadealo

Dakar, Senegal is the birthplace of Mariama Bâ (1929-1981). She was an author and social justice advocate. 

Her familial structure was from a wealthy class. Bâ’s Dad was a government official whose membership belonged to France’s protectorate states inside Africa. Later, in his career during the year 1956, he rose to the ranks and became the leader of Senegal’s National Health Minister. When Bâ was still a minor child, her mom passed away.

Bâ’s grandmother and grandfather primarily raised her. They trained her up with traditional Islamic morals. 

Bâ was enrolled as a Muslim student. In addition, she was a student of France’s education system. Bâ’s father reinserted himself as the manager of her educational affairs in 1943. In 1947, Bâ graduated from the Ecole Normale Teacher Training School, which was located in Rufisque, Senegal. She gained employment and obtained a teaching position in 1947.

Around the time she was working as a scholastic appraiser Bâ married a man named Obeye Diop. A total of nine offspring were born during Bâ and Diop’s marriage. However, their union failed. The subsequent separation put Bâ in a bind, which made her a single mother.

When the 1970s came around, the majority of Bâ’s sons and daughters were of legal age. This allowed her to enter a career in politics. Bâ began speaking out in favor of women’s justice, anti-colonialism, and anti-polygamy. She also established herself as a feminist author and wrote many publications about problems, which were plaguing women in Senegal.

Undue exploitation, violence, and scarce education deliverables were some of the major plagues that plagued Senegalese women. Bâ was also opposed the marginalization of social and financial classism. In 1981, Bâ passed away as a result of the long-term complications she experienced with cancer.

A revered preparatory institute, which is located on Goree Island, was built in Bâ’s esteem.