Hadja Mafory Bangoura (circa 1910 – 1976) is a heroine of the struggle for the independence of Guinea – Conakry.
Fishing and sewing
Hadja Mafory Bangoura was born around 1910 in Wonkifong, near the west coast of what is now Guinea, then part of French West Africa. She is from the Soussou people, traditionally living from agriculture, and grew up in a fishing family.
Mafory moved to Conakry where she married and gave birth to three children. To support them, she comes from a modest background, she fishes and works as a seamstress.
The General Strike of 1953
Since 1901, Guinea has been part of French West Africa (AOF), comprising eight French colonies in Africa and bringing together Mauritania, Senegal, present-day Mali, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, l current Burkina Faso, Togo and current Benin. Like many, Mafory Bangoura supports the independence of Guinea.
In 1953, activist and politician Ahmed Sékou Touré launched a large-scale strike movement in several French colonies in order to pressure the French government into passing the Overseas Labor Code. In Guinea, the strike lasted 72 days and Mafory took an active part in it, haranguing the crowd, mobilizing women and helping to spread the movement.
The African Democratic Rally
After the success of the strike and the signing of an agreement, Mafory Bangoura took over the presidency of the women's committee of the African Democratic Rally (RDA), a federation of anti-colonialist political parties from all the colonies of the AOF. In 1954, during an RDA rally, Mafory urged women to put pressure on their husbands to join the party, to go on a sex strike or even to leave them if they refused. Entirely devoted to the cause of Guinea's independence, she also invites her comrades to sell their jewelry and valuables to fund the party.
Clashes between the colonial authorities and independence activists multiplied and Mafory created a popular women's militia and worked to train them in the use of arms. At the head of the Conakry Red Cross, she collects and treats at home those who were injured during anti-colonialist demonstrations.
Mafory's activities and influence worried the colonial authorities, who waged a smear campaign before accusing him of having transmitted an anti-French document to imprisoned militants. In July 1955, they condemned her to a fine and a prison sentence, but hundreds of women then mobilized and demonstrated in arms. Mafory will only serve one month of her prison sentence and will be escorted home in triumph.
After independence
In 1958, Guinea proclaimed independence and Ahmed Sékou Touré became its president. A member of the political bureau of the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), she holds several positions related to women in government. From 1970 to 1976, she was Minister of Social Affairs.
Mafory Bangoura died in 1976 in Bucharest, Romania.