>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. ^M00:00:03 ^M00:00:23 >> Mary Jane Deeb: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you all for coming. I'm Mary Jane Deeb, chief of the African-Middle East Division, and I'm really happy to see you all here. We always thought with a little commercial about our division, and as this is a program that is recorded and that is going to be seen and will be able to be seen in different parts of the world. So the African-Middle East Division, in which you are all seated here, is made up of three sections; the African section covers the whole continent of Africa, the whole continent, subcontinent of Africa. North Africa is included in the Near East division, and the reason being language, because we're divided by language more than by geopolitical districting, if you want. The second division, therefore, I've already started, is the Near East division, which includes the countries starting from Morocco and going through to Afghanistan. It also includes all the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. And then the third section is the Hebraic section, for which we collect worldwide. We're divided by language, which means that the collections in the vernacular are here in our custody, and the collections in Western languages are part of the general collection. So with respect to Angola, most of the materials will be found in the general collection, although the specialists are here in the African-Middle East Division. We have, as all the librarians of the library, have three goals, three missions, if you want. One is to collect materials from all over the world, and when I say materials I mean not just books and journals and newspapers, but also films and music and photographs and maps. We have the largest collection in the world of maps. And we collect broadly from all over the world. Our second mission is then to preserve these collections, and the library has one of the best centers for preservation of materials. We preserve the rare materials in boxes, in cases, in areas in which temperature and humidity is controlled. We preserve more recent books, sometimes by washing them, believe or not. We de-acidify the paper because we receive a lot of materials that are on acidic paper and that are self-destroying. And so we collect these materials, preserve them, shelve them. And the third mission is actually to serve these materials to our patrons, and our patrons come from the whole world, from our 78 countries in this particular reading room, but they come from all over the world for the whole library. They're accessible, those materials are available free to everyone and can be used for research. We do not take a stand, political or otherwise, on what we collect, and we collect materials in all formats. So, however, in order to make the countries that we're responsible for and the materials better known, we invite scholars, as we have today with Professor Linda Heywood. We invite scholars to discuss their research. So what happens after we have served our patrons, we have given them the books? Well, those patrons use those materials, write books, go out on lecture tours, talk about the research they have conducted, and we invite them here to talk about their research and to get us all informed and enlightened, both other patrons, other researchers and we librarians as well. We learn from our guests, we learn from the scholars who come and who talk about their research. And so it's very exciting for me to have Professor Heywood here to talk about a subject close to her heart and for which we have a significant collection. And to introduce her is our area specialist for Africa and who is responsible for Angola, and the person who actually invited Professor Heywood, and that is Laverne Page who will introduce the speaker. Thank you. ^M00:05:49 [ Applause ] ^M00:05:55 >> Laverne Page: Thank you. Again, welcome to the Library of Congress and to the African and Middle Eastern Division. Our speaker is Professor Linda Heywood, author of "Njinga of Angola, Africa's Warrior Queen," published by Harvard University Press in 2017. After the lecture she will sign -- well, after the lecture there are copies available of this book and Dr. Heywood can sign them for you. I'll give you a very brief overview of Professor Heywood's writings and other activities. She is a professor of African History and the History of the African Diaspora, and African American Studies at Boston University. She is the author of "Contested Power in Angola," editor of and contributor to "Central African Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora," and coauthor with John Thornton of "Central African, Atlantic Creoles and the Foundation of America," published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. This book was also the winner of the 2008 Melville Herskovits Award for the best book published in African studies. She is also one of the coeditors of the 2015 published book "African Americans in U.S. Foreign Policy, From the Era of Frederick Douglass to the Age of Obama," published by the University of Illinois Press. ^M00:07:46 ^M00:07:50 Okay. ^M00:07:51 ^M00:07:56 This book was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2015. Her articles on Angola and the African diaspora have appeared in the "Journal of African History," "Journal of Modern African Studies," "Slavery and Abolition," and the "Journal of Southern African Studies". She has served as a consultant for numerous museum exhibitions. She has also served as a history consultant, and has appeared in several Henry Louis Gates' PBS series, such as "Finding Oprah's Roots" in 2007, and the "African Civilizations," and that was for 2017. And so now, Professor Heywood, could you come to the podium and talk to us about Queen Njinga? Thank you. ^M00:08:54 [ Applause ] ^M00:09:00 >> Professor Heywood: Well, thank you very much for the introduction and for that overview of the scope of the library, both in terms of its holdings as well as its public engagement. I'm really honored to be here. I have been sort of carrying Queen Njinga in my head since I taught at Howard University, of course, on Central Africa. I had to teach Central Africa before 1800 and then Central Africa since 1800, as well as the African diaspora, and I did not know what impact I had had on the students. They had a name which they called me, which I'm not going to repeat, but when Ta-Nehisi Coates, who happened to be in that Central African history, as well as in the class I taught on writing the African diaspora at Howard University, when they published his book "Between the World and Me," I picked up the book and I said, oh, Ta-Nehisi, another book, you know, his Atlantic articles, and I put it on my desk because I was very busy at the time. Well, just soon afterwards I got emails and calls from former students who said, Dr. Heywood, did you know that, you know, your name is on page 54 of Ta-Nehisi's "Between the World and Me". So the book was right on my desk waiting for time, so I opened it and there he revealed to me how impactful my teaching his first exposure to Queen Njinga was, and I guess it was meeting Queen Njinga, was also impactful to me, but I did not start off my career, you know, thinking I'm going to write a biography of a famous African ruler. I had no idea. And so it's really been a journey that I've taken, and I have published the book, the book is here, as you can see. So I'm not going to give you a summary of the book, or so. There were things in the book that I could not develop as well as I hoped I could develop in articles. One of those was Njinga's diplomacy, and I want to explore that with you. So this is a paper that I'm putting together, but a lot of it is informed in my engagement with Njinga in writing her biography. So I'll start with Angola. And all of you, I don't know how to point this out, but you see Angola on this modern map, and we're going to now give you some information on Queen Njinga and her background, important dates. You can get that in the book. But, you know, 1582, born sometime in 1582. We know that. We know she was baptized in 1622. She was the ruler of Ndongo, the kingdom that her father, her brother and other, you know, older rulers had controlled before the Portuguese, you know, began their wars against Ndongo in 1575 and it ended in the 1570s. We call that the Hundred Years War. So the Hundreds Year War did not only happen in Europe, it also happened in Angola. Then we had Njinga being thrown out of her kingdom between 1626 and 1627, and she did not just fade out. She, in fact, continued the struggle. Her famous alliance with some very ruthless Imbangala, or Jagas, we call that the Jaga phase. Njinga's Dutch alliance is a major point in her life as well. And then at the end of her life she returns to Christianity and becomes the Christian ruler of Matamba until 1663, when she died. The date of her death, we have very detailed information because the Capuchin missionary who served in her court was there recording every iota of movement that she did until her last breath. And you will see in my description of that, that I tried to recreate. I even tried to find out exactly what she died from. You can read the book and see. And so in 1622, when Njinga first appeared in official documentation systematically, you will see that the Portuguese had already taken a big slice of Ndongo, going from the base in Luanda, the capital, where they had come and conquered in 1575 -- oh, no. They come in 1575, and then increasingly Ndongo would lose its territory. So you see this in 1622. But because of Njinga, she actually, by the end of her life, she actually -- the Portuguese increased their holdings, but she actually added to her kingdom, Matamba. Ndongo, she kept a little part of Ndongo, the eastern part. And as you can see this region, the eastern borders of Njinga's territory, actually went across the Congo River. It went down into areas we now know as the Lunda area. So it's very, very interesting that Njinga made her mark on Angola. No other leader has done that. So I said, okay, since I'm doing, you know, an overview of diplomacy, a written as well as performed and oral, I said let me tell you who are the recorders and receivers of Njinga's, you know, diplomatic, you know, openings of Portuguese officials. Njinga outlived 11 Portuguese governors, and there were some that she dealt with systematically who recorded her letters and her actions. Fernao de Sousa and Luis Martins de Sousa Chichorro. Portuguese soldier, this one individual, Antonio de Cadornega, he lived in Angola. He came as a teenager and went through these various phases of his career, dying in 1690, he was a recorder of Njinga. He was on the scene, talked to her, had arguments with her. Also we have Italian Capuchin missionaries who arrived in 1654. Others would come, but I just wanted to identify the two that were really important; Father Antonio Gaeta and Father Antonio Giovanni Cavazzi. You'll hear me only speaking about their last names instead of going over. And they did not come from just anyplace in Europe. They came from Rome, from the Vatican. Also, Njinga had contact with, sent letters to Portuguese rulers and the two kings who ruled during Njinga's time was King Joao, IV, as well as King Afonso. And last, but not least, Njinga wrote letters to Pope Alexander VII, and he was Pope 1655 to 1667. So Njinga had in her scope -- you know, she was not just confined to an African land. This was a person who was playing global politics and global diplomacy. So I wanted to sort of thinking about, okay, if I'm thinking about, you know, diplomacy and writing and, you know, what's the nature of, you know, diplomacy, so I just wanted to introduce you to a couple of the scholars I've been looking at, you know, and what is writing. And I like this, As a vector conveying words, a writ, a written document, and we are here with written document, is performative of an action in a given territory. So it combines the both things. You have a written document, but you have a performance, and that's what intrigues me about Njinga. And then I wanted to say, well, what are people thinking, you know, in the past, really in antiquity, you know, Rome and before Rome and the classical world, how did people communicate? Wow. In antiquity, only face communication would guarantee the reliable transmission of the words and opinions of one person to another. This is really fundamental. And you know we live in a capital where politics and all the diplomats are here, so I don't have to explain to you that when you really want to get things done, you go in person, you know, you send that person who is your right arm to deliver your message and to be persuasive. I also said, okay, Njinga is living in a world in Europe, you know, there's the Medieval Period. This is Tudor Period in England. And I said what was Elizabeth doing. Because, in fact, we had a play on Queen Njinga, "Queen Njinga, The Queen King". ^M00:19:00 It was shown, it opened at Folger some years ago, and I said, look, it's -- you know, this is the Tudor world, this is the Medieval world, this is Elizabeth's world. I think in some respects Elizabeth and Njinga, Catherine the Great of, you know, Russia, all of these women rulers were very much, you know, in the scope of performing. So here I have "Elizabeth I of England, Dance and Diplomacy". This is an article I ran across. I said, wow. So I got another entry into how diplomacy is done. Diplomacy could be danced, it could be performed. It's a performance. Communication is a performative act. And I also said, well, what else is this writer telling me, and I like this. Ben Johnson's 1603 Masque. You know, if you go to France, you'll see the masques. All the courts of Europe had this. I came out of Europe in history, so I'm not afraid to go in European history and find our parallels, you know, with Njinga's world. So the "Satyr". "They came to see and to be seen, and though they dance before the queen, they're none of those that hope to come by/Wealth to build another Hombly/Hatton's estate." And it tells you that people in England, in Europe as a whole, you know, that performance, how you appeared in court, your ability to dance and move and know the moves and know the etiquette, is something that is just -- you know, we forget this. You know, we are gross now. But there was a time when, you know, knowing how to appear, how the etiquette, you know, of speak, of speech, of movement was very crucial to indicate your intentions, and people read you. So the first thing I want to introduce you to is Njinga. Some people have seen this picture, but it is, in fact, Njinga in her first performance, you know, her diplomacy, you know. She went to negotiate with the Portuguese on behalf of her brother. And the Portuguese governor, you know, sits on his chair, you know, and as usual, they gave the -- put on the floor a carpet for the defeated African to sit lower and show their subordination. And Njinga calls one of her attendants, you could call her slave, client, I don't care what you call her, but Njinga had to show her status was equal to the Portuguese and she negotiated getting up and down, and the Portuguese are just blown away, is this what -- and she was so persuasive they sealed a deal. Now, the Portuguese would renege, but in Njinga's presence they sealed that deal, that the Portuguese would remove their fort in Ambaca. Okay. When they didn't do it, Njinga will take up the struggle. Another thing that Njinga performed was that, you know, they persuaded her -- or Njinga persuaded herself, I will say, that, you know, what is strategic. The Portuguese had something. They had Christian, a religion, and Njinga was staying in the house of one of the wealthy, you know, families in Luanda. And yes, six months there she did convert. Well, she did allow herself to be baptized and to learn the catechism. And here she is very -- you see this and you say this is Cavazzi's drawing. It doesn't come from today, we are not creating things, this is from the time period. And Cavazzi was speaking to people who, in fact, lived in Njinga's court. He got all these traditions, how she was born, everything. So I believe this, even though he is a, oh, European outsider, but you have to weigh how you take those written documents that come to you, and there's some things, you know, that you can question and there are some things that are genuine. So you look and see what's the environment in which the scholar or this observer's taken down that material. And we know that when Njinga left the court, when she left Luanda, she was given all sort of Christian, you know, crosses, and so on, to take back with her. And once Njinga reached outside of the -- you know, she was accompanied up to the end of the city. There was, imagine, you know, the bush and the urban. So once she got back to Omatu [phonetic], the Angolans were on the side of the bush, you know, she just called her own religious, you know, supporters and had them do the ritual so that when she could get back safe, back to her Ambaca, back to her lands. Okay. So I'm just saying, I believe that these two, even though the Portuguese might indicate for this that Njinga was baptized and genuine, I think it was all strategic diplomacy. This was the first evidence of her diplomacy. ^M00:24:11 ^M00:24:16 So here I begin with Njinga's strategic diplomacy, the writ, you know, the written document. And her father had died and, you know, they're reporting this, but he said Dona Ana Sousa -- her brother had died. Dona Ana Sousa, his sister, who is baptized, you see again the Portuguese say this, she's baptized, right, has been nominated, but she's not named queen, only Lady of Angola. Oh, but the thing about diplomacy, Njinga strategically, I have received a letter of hers in which she says that as soon as the fort is removed, she will immediately come out of the lands where she is. So Njinga continued her brother's struggle, and she wanted to negotiate. She wanted to make sure that the Portuguese played by the rules of diplomacy. And if they wanted war, she will get to war, and that war could be prolonged, she'll prolong it until she overcame, or show the Portuguese that she was not going to subordinate herself to them. So here, Njinga's oral diplomacy, not only is she sending letters, she sends -- you know how Njinga returned to the islands, right, she called the sobas. She is negotiating with the supporters. Some of these sobas are all on the Portuguese side. Njinga is going to bring them in alliance with her against the Portuguese. All right. With this intention, she sent her mani lumbo -- and all of these negotiators have diplomats, her emissaries, they have titles. This is not just bush. This is a state. Her mani lumbo from the lands of Ambaca to open the slave trade. Okay. She trade some slaves. That's what the Portuguese have taken. The Portuguese themselves are trading in slaves. So don't bring anything to me to tell me, oh, but Njinga's trading in slaves. I will just tell you, oh, the Portuguese and the Europeans were trading in slaves also. Now, I'm a descendent of these slaves so I should be hurt. No, I'm not hurt. History is history. You go beyond that. You go forward. You look backward to understand it and you know you don't want to stay there or be that, so you go forward. So that's what you have to understand with Njinga. She always was looking to the future, to the future for her to maintain her autonomy so that the Portuguese would never control her land. Okay. And we have not only the mani lumbo. I'm not going to read all of these. But each of these are titled, you know, mani lumbo, her privado, her macunzes, her pungas. All of these are officials that again and again Njinga sends, you know what I mean, with letters, you know, with performance. And the Portuguese, sometimes you see this [inaudible] I cut off his head. I don't know if I told you that. Right. I ordered him seized as a spy and slit his throat in the fortress where he came to negotiate. Okay. So Njinga knows that. Right. So she is never going to trust the Portuguese, but she sends people to negotiate, but she's always thinking look behind because they're not to be trusted. I'm sorry for the Portuguese that I'm presenting it like this, but this is history. I'm not against the Portuguese. I love Portugal, but this is really exciting history. Okay. So they said how was this performed. Look at this. You know, Cadornega, he said, look, these people, this queen is Njinga Ana de Sousa, she's very conscious of her high status. This guy was there as a young man. He has seen her grow. He has grown with the wars. He has grown with her. You know, so when he's reflecting, he knows her, you know. And the nation of Angola, which is really Mbundu and the word Kimbundu -- and I spell Njinga, N-j, that's the Kimbundu spelling. Okay. So my book is "Queen Njinga," right, "Njinga of Angola". It's the Kimbundu spelling. There's several other spellings, Z-i-n or, you know, S-i-n, Italian spelling. In fact, I am doing now another book on Njinga, the second book on her memory, and she's in America, and she is in America in the 19th century, in the 18th century. I'm going to show you that, not now, but Z-i-n-g-h-a. Right. Fascinating. Anyhow, so you see, the people from which she originate, you know, they take great pleasure, right, they think their lands are extensive. These are proud people. But what get me, she sends her ambassadors, right, they spoke and gave her embassy in their own Mbundu language. Absolutely. Pride in the language. In fact, turning the Colonial Period, late Colonial, 1900s, the Portuguese are contesting with Njinga still, and they said -- they call the Mbundu language dog language, and the Njingas -- this is in the 20th century, this is in 1950s, and the Njingas, they said Portuguese is, in fact, the language of -- I'm not going to say what it is. But if you insult me, I'm going to insult you. Up to today that tendency of resistance and authority and sort of belief in your language, your people, your land, it's very strong. So she said they spoke, right, and it was explained by an interpreter -- by the way, every Portuguese governor, every Portuguese [inaudible] their post at this time, they had to hire an interpreter who spoke in Kimbundu. So as I've shown in an article I wrote, Kimbundu was the lingua franca of Luanda, not Portuguese. In fact, "Portuguese into Africa," I called an article I wrote because I can see that sort of melding. You have a new society being created in Luanda, not in Ndongo, not in Matamba. That's still, you know, Mbundu land, Kimbundu land, Njinga's land. Right. Their speech is well rehearsed. This is the interpreter. Right. They're well-rehearsed. And there are people who will stand a whole day speaking in their language without resting, and speak at times so obscurely that even native-born person can't understand. These are trained, you know, speakers, oral speakers. This is not oral tradition I'm talking about. This is negotiating politics. Okay. So, you know, you go to Africa and you say, oh, I want to learn the African tradition. No. These people, the tradition is a living tradition, you know, and they're proud of it. Njinga Ana de Sousa, her diplomacy, every new governor who arrived, Njinga gets all her messages from Luanda with her spies, and she then sends letters, or sends ambassadors. It's just incredible, you know, tenacity of this incredible woman. Njinga sent an embassy to the city with letters that she dictated asking for a respectful settler to discuss matters of importance to the two crowns. Right. So Njinga, every time she hear a new governor comes, she tries to start over. You know, she said look, I've given you so many slaves, so many bundles of things that you have asked for, and you're just cheating me, I know you're cheating me, so I'm going to look for another way. I am not going to let any Portuguese priest come in my land. She doesn't want a Portuguese priest. If you are sending an interpreter, if you're sending a negotiator, guess what, they got to speak Kimbundu. They're not coming in my land and speak Portuguese. That's what she -- she determined what her, you know, the way in which she would negotiate with the Portuguese. Right. Guess what. So it's not only the Portuguese she is dealing with. The Dutch took over Luanda, Angola 1641 to 1648. The first thing Njinga does is what, send her people to the Dutch. She said, look, we can work together. I don't want the Portuguese here, you don't want the Portuguese here, let's ally. And, in fact, up to the very end Njinga and the Dutch would have controlled Angola, but there's in Europe another negotiation had taken place where the Dutch decided that they had to leave Luanda because their crowns had come together and Njinga brings down her troops. You'll see all this. Exciting. They're waiting for her, right, they're going to end the Portuguese. She comes down and sees the Dutch ship leaving. Right, leaving. So another group of Europeans have reneged on the negotiations they made with her. So you ask me why Njinga went Imbangala, ballistic. She did because she had been -- time and time again the Europeans, the Portuguese and now the Dutch had disappointed her. Okay. We state here in the reports that we have yet to find the occasion to send our letters to Queen Ana Njinga. From the reports in question you would learn that you have received letters from this queen, again showing you that Njinga took the initiative, you know, to send letters. Okay. Njinga was also very much alert to the new missionaries who were coming in. So it's 1652, you know, missionary, right, I want to get to the lands -- this is in her Imbangala stage. I want to get to the lands of this woman. ^M00:34:10 We heard that she's a barbarian, wow, the Portuguese have thrown her out, right, and now she lives like a captive bird, right, but she had said this captive bird, right, knows what is going on in Luanda. Guess what. She sends an ambassador. She sends an ambassador, right, and then he sends a letter to her in which I ask her please give up your ways, come back to the church. Njinga knows what she's doing. So she's invaded Congo and the Congo eastern area Wandu [phonetic], and there are two missionaries were there in Congo, and guess what, her army captured the two missionaries and brings them to Njinga, Father Cordella and Father Veas, and they're shaking, because all they've heard of Njinga is that she's an Imbangala, they are cannibals, they eat their [inaudible] children, all this stuff. So they're there and her captain brings them to her. And she's just calm then. She said, calmer. Like the Portuguese told me, when the Angolans told me when I got, you know, excited and I got sick, they'll just say calmer Linda, calmer Linda, calmer, because I get excited sometimes. It's fascinating. And I could see Njinga saying, calmer, Capuchinos, calmer. And she sets to make them at ease. You're not going to be eaten. You're not going to eat human flesh. She tells them in conversation, she has long conversations with them in the time that they are, you know, in her, you know, present in her kilombo, military, you know, marooned outpost. She said, [foreign language]. We people don't eat human flesh, but my soldiers, who are Imbangala, who comes from a different ethnicity, we have to satisfy them because we need to use them, and guess what, she didn't say that, but I'm adding she could have said the Portuguese are doing the same thing, they're using the Imbangalas and they know they eat human flesh or have all this thing, you know, cannibalism, that's what they write. Many people question that now, but I'm just saying that that was the world. The more you could intimidate your enemy, is an upper hand you have. Leaders do horrible things. They make sometimes choices that we consider horrible, but sometimes survival of the fittest fits in and our leaders that we -- and we didn't even elect these leaders. These leaders gained their prominence from lineage, from inheritance, like Queen Elizabeth II today. I admire her. She's lived so many years, you know, and she's continuing the monarchy. That's what Njinga wanted to do. So what? We are democrats and we don't like people with inheritance, but we're, oh, we tolerate them. Okay. We don't let them vote. Okay. So Njinga has peace negotiations. An ambassador of Njinga arrived in Luanda. He appears at the palace, accompanied -- the Portuguese had, in fact, imprisoned her sister. I can't go into all the details. It's in the book. But Njinga sends a letter to her sister who is in prison in Luanda to negotiate the release of her sister. Why? Njinga does not want any Imbangala, any Jaga to inherit the kingdom. She wants a family [inaudible]. She said I wish I had a son. Her brother had killed her son, according to the tradition, and she had killed her brother's son. You know, these royal intrigues, if you do European history, you see all of that. Remember Richard III, you know, killing all those -- you know, I can tell you all the gory details. I love them, I love history like that. I'm glad we don't have it now, but history's really interesting if you go back. The ambassador verbally details the contents of the letter. During the speech the ambassador presented ten slaves that Njinga sent as a gift to the Queen of Portugal. The king had died and the queen was just in transition as the king's son took over, Afonso [inaudible]. So Njinga's already strategizing I'm going to get on the good side of the queen in terms of diplomacy, and you'll see her working through that. Right. Here's a letter. I found this letter. It gave me goose pimples. Oh, my gosh, a letter that would actually -- you see that? You know what that is inside there, what we call it? Yeah. Seal. The seal we say, you know. Impressa [phonetic]. You know, is that genuine, man. And look at her, right, and she had her Congo secretary. And this is going because -- you know, I mean, so we have -- I can't go into all the details, but it's just an incredible set of documentation. The peace negotiations always send bearing letters, they sent it to Njinga's court. She performs the receipt of the letter, you know. Father Gaeta, you know, she has them as her allies men, spiritual diplomacy. Go to Luanda. I'm going to send an ambassador straight to Rome so that they can talk and kiss the feet of the Pope so he can send me missionaries. Don't let the Portuguese know because Portuguese has a law that no African could leave as an ambassador on their own to go to Europe. And you're telling me why Njinga should not be suspicious of the Portuguese. So she used these spiritual diplomats who are working on her soul, you know, as her emissaries. She said if my representatives cannot go, then you go on my behalf. And we have several letters to that, you know, [inaudible], with the excuse that I'm sending my ambassador with the excuse to send the condolences for the death of King John. Right. After this embassy then he'll go on. He'll be kept in a Capuchin, you know -- you know, he will be upkept by the Capuchins and then they will safely send him on to Rome. Okay. And we have all the intrigue of the letters. I can't go into all of that, the time. Okay. Finally, I have to stop, okay. I want to show you this. So it's got a lot of secrecy with this. She gets a letter from the Pope. Right. She sends the Pope the letter, she gets a letter. She gets letters. Njinga performs. I can't go into all the details. She performs when she gets these letters, big parade that she was a performer. She wore around her neck beautiful gold brocade. All of this, this is a description of a woman who is a woman, she's gendered, but she's also just a leader, a diplomat, a [inaudible], one of the best, right, one of the best. And she thanks him, even at the end of her life, by the way. This is in April. Njinga's going to be dead by December. Right. Because she wants to protect the autonomy of her kingdom, she still sends we are lacking, we don't have enough Capuchins, send Capuchins. Okay. And this letter arrived after Njinga had died, a letter from the Pope. "To our Dear Daughter in Christ Regina Ana Njinga." Okay. So this is the woman that we are dealing with. This is no, you know, fly-by-night, you know, leader. This is a leader who had an impact on her people. That is why her memory is retained. You know, people carrying me to see footsteps, this is where Njinga stepped. Amazing. So I have to do the second book. Thank you very much. ^M00:42:44 [ Applause ] ^M00:42:52 If you have any questions, I'm open to -- you know, I know I went over things very quickly, but. Yes. >> Where did you find this documentation, such as the letters? >> Professor Heywood: Well, some of the letters are embedded in Cadornega's book, for instance. Some of them are embedded in Cavazzi's manuscript. Some of them I found -- the letter I showed you, I found this in Lisbon at the Arquivo Historico Ultramarino, that's the overseas archives, which is the main archive. I also visited Venice, Florence, because the Capuchin has an archive in Venice, and some of the Capuchins, there was a Capuchin Secado [phonetic] who came to Angola I think in 1950s, but in any case, in '57 he actually found -- he went to visit the site that people said was Njinga's grave, and he actually measured it and he had -- the Capuchin had all the specifications of the hasidi [phonetic] ^M00:44:10 and he stipulated that that was the grave. So we had collected all the archives. I also went to the Papacy, you know, in Rome to look for documents. And sometimes I got documents from the Dutch, you know, the West India Company. So it's all over. Not in America though. It's in 17th and 18th, but mostly 17th and late 16th century documentation. The writing is pretty horrible, some of it, so sometimes I had really nice, supportive students who were Italian speakers or were from, you know, Portugal, Portuguese speakers who checked out things and then I checked it and I did a lot of -- the poem from Cavazzi that I quoted at the end of the book, where he's -- it wasn't published, it was in his manuscript. The first time it's published is in my book. And he says that Njinga is -- you know, he compares Njinga -- in fact, I could actually, just a minute -- yeah, I know I'm going on, but this is important. So just it will take a sec. ^M00:45:32 ^M00:45:36 Okay. "Under this rice cloth, fielded cloth, in the dark tomb that you see, Njinga, who made herself queen of Ndongo and Matamba, lies buried, a dry corpse. In this dark tomb that you see, here lies the one who lived to die. Here lies the one who by dying lives. In this dark tomb she hid herself. Because of Agrippa Rome repelled. Because of Helen Greece rebelled. Because of Yusodonia [phonetic] Germany rebelled. Because of Hecuba, Spain rebelled. But Ethiopia did not rebel for Njinga. Instead, Njinga overturned, destroyed and ruined Ethiopia. Njinga in death stole from Heaven's treasure. In this tomb her body is locked up. Therefore, we can sing to a most cunning thief. A most cunning thief has stolen from the treasury of Heaven. Njinga outsmarted even death." And that's why her memory lives on. So I wanted to contextualize. So this letter is in the manuscript section. It was never published in Cavazzi's book. So that's the type of thing. You have to really compare what is, you know, the translated version and then go back to the original to make sure you're not missing anything. And there are a lot of interesting sections of details that go into give you insight into the mind of this incredible woman that assisted me. Yes. >> Thank you. I mean, this is very exciting. She really is. You know, I had always figured, without any doubt. You mentioned a couple of issues [inaudible] before. What were some of the other issues which she was negotiating with the Portuguese, and then with the Dutch, again the Portuguese? What were some of the -- >> Professor Heywood: Well, the main thing was she wanted the Portuguese to let her retain the whole of Ndongo, the parts that they had taken. She wanted them to -- the Portuguese had put in her place, after they had expelled her or created conditions where she had to go into resistance. She wanted them to get rid of the king that they had nominated. The Portuguese had said that Njinga was not legitimate because -- ^M00:48:21 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:48:22 Yeah. Yes, the Angolans and Ndongo never, you know, had women. In the book I tried to show that in this sort of -- in the traditions of this area that women were very crucial as central players in the kingship. So the thing was to recognize her legitimacy, recognize her rights to the areas of Angola that her brother had left and her father had left. Up to her father's -- the Portuguese had moved in up to Ambaca. She wanted them to get, you know, removal. Yes. With the Dutch, she hoped that the Dutch would just help her get totally, push -- ^M00:49:05 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:49:06 No Portuguese presence in Angola. She also -- I didn't mention this in the article I'm going to write on this diplomacy, she also had a lot of diplomacy with Africans, especially the King of Congo, and she would, in fact -- she was planning -- she said the only rulers I respect is the King of Congo. So that there were a lot of things that Njinga was a -- if there was a -- I'm not talking about protonationalist. She was a nationalist from the beginning. We have these terms protonational. She knew what nationalism was. She was the, you know, ruler of her land. So those types of things. And she did not want the Portuguese to come into Matamba and -- but through Portuguese speaking missionaries who would be spies for the Portuguese and undermine her rule. But she did not mind using the Portuguese, so that she would send them gifts, she would also send to get the church that she built. It was all -- all the interior of the church design was all done by Portuguese and mulatto, mixed people, skilled craftsmen who were in Massangano and Luanda, and she paid them. So she did not mind, you know, learning all the new or adopting all the new styles, whether it was in a dress, she asked the governor to send her earrings, she does this. She's very woman here. But she also was a strategic ruler. It didn't mean that she wanted -- because she was, you know, dealing with you and trading with you, that she would let the [inaudible] be that you could come and take over her territory because she had -- Njinga was born in 1582. The Portuguese, a few maybe months after her -- her family had to flee from the capital. So she grew up in a situation of, you know, being a refugee, coming back and, you know, survival. Yeah. It was instinctive to survive for Njinga. Yes. Yes, sir. >> Could you say a little more about the memory of Njinga in America [inaudible]? >> Professor Heywood: Okay. I'm going to give you some teasers. When I sort of -- the book I'm writing on her, "Njinga Memory, Culture and History," I had, in fact, done research in Angola, interviewed people. I had read all the Portuguese references after Njinga's death, all the different, you know, publications, and I had also followed Njinga to Brazil where she's remembered in the con gatas and the only named person in any of the con gatas, this is an Afro-Brazilian festival, is Njinga. So I have quality stuff there. Then I decided, because I'm a modern African specialist, you know, I decided I have to follow Njinga and see if she appears in Cuba because of the Cuban connection. And one day I was walking down the street in Havana -- I've gone to Havana five times. This is my sixth, you know, sixth time I'll be going. And I saw on the street a children's magazine and I saw this picture with this, you know, Nzinga. I said, oh, my gosh, Njinga's here. So I've been collecting research of all the captains of the Cuban Army. They're writing their memos now and everybody has to start with the history of Angola, the resistance history of Angola and it's right, they start with Njinga because that's [inaudible], you know, history of Angola. That's what it is. So I sort of had said I would stop there, and after the book came out in February, I gave a talk at my old institution, Boston University, and the question I invariably got from the three speakers who were commenting on it, where is the second book, you know. So I said, well, I have part of it and then I decide, you know, I had collected some things on Njinga. I had worked with BSA, Black Sisterhood in Action, in the '90s who every year celebrate a famous African queen or ruler, and the year I worked with them they celebrated Queen Njinga. So I had done that, but it was, you know, it was 20th century. And if I were to do a chapter on Njinga in America, I have to push it back to see. So that's when I started. I came to LC just last summer, just to begin, you know, seeing if there's anything in the newspapers. And I'm finding it. Abolition is literature, you know. I'm finding it in the first encyclopedia published in America, you know, having references to Njinga. I'm finding it in feminist -- it's going to be incredible. I can't go into it, but I'm just so excited. I am just so excited to finish that chapter, so I'm collecting the material now. I'm teasing out the way I'm going to do it. It's going to be great, so that's the American. Yes, sir. ^M00:55:00 [ Inaudible comments ] ^M00:55:23 Yes. ^M00:55:24 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:55:25 Right, right. ^M00:55:26 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:55:31 Yeah. ^M00:55:32 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:55:34 Yeah. ^M00:55:35 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:55:36 Yeah. Absolute. What I hope to do in the -- if it's published in America, and I've picked up some things that were published in America, I hope to address this in the last part of the chapter on America because there are things now being -- a lot of stuff being published on Njinga in America. And as I said, I did not want to start with the contemporary, so I now have fleshed out the 19th century. I'm doing that, 18th and 19th century, and when I come to the last part of the book, you know, the chapter, I'll be addressing the distortions that I see in the published literature on Angola, especially children's books. I'll definitely. And I'd like you to give me that reference because I don't know if I have the same as yours. >> I don't remember, but I remember I went to the Northeast Public Library in [inaudible]. >> Professor Heywood: Okay. ^M00:56:33 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:56:34 Okay. So I'll look. I'll get them. I'll have a graduate student looking at all the children's literature. ^M00:56:40 ^M00:56:44 Okay. >> One more question? >> Professor Heywood: Okay. >> Well, I don't have a question. I just wanted to make a comment, if I can. >> Professor Heywood: Right. Sure. >> [Inaudible] around from the kingdom, [inaudible], and that was really a pleasure for us to be around and be part of this. You talked about aspersions. That was one of the key features -- >> Professor Heywood: Right. >> [Inaudible] from your third book. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> [Inaudible] there's a lot to be said. >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. >> But one thing we should always remember is that Njinga is known [inaudible] today. >> Professor Heywood: Yeah, yeah. >> Not just as a warrior, but as a [inaudible]. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. Right. >> And wisdom. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> And beauty. >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. >> Because you were talking about [inaudible]. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> She was beautiful doing that. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> And there's something really interesting about her because the new generation are thinking most of the time things that [inaudible]. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. Yeah. >> Which is interesting. I remember that when we were growing up, we used to read that in a primary -- >> Professor Heywood: Secondary school. >> It didn't make sense. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> It only made sense later. >> Professor Heywood: Right. >> And then we started calling our kids -- >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> Njinga. >> Professor Heywood: Yes. >> You know. >> Professor Heywood: The name. >> The name. >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. ^M00:58:22 [ Inaudible comment ] ^M00:58:30 Yes. Right. >> [Inaudible] that might be another chapter. >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. >> Looking for people in America as a [inaudible] to, you know, to find -- >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. >> a connection -- >> Professor Heywood: Yeah. >> to their -- >> Professor Heywood: Oh, it's just part of the chapter. And I have interviewed lots of Angolans in Luanda. I went up to Malange. I interviewed some of the sobas and just ordinary people. I took the 11-hour trip from Malange to Marimba so that on each, you know, part of the travel it was tough because the roads are -- you know, we had to stop and build bridges and so -- but it was absolutely incredible. And I have that, you know, the perspective of the different Angolans from different regions because I also collected questionnaires from Mawambo and from the Congo area. And so it will be represented in the last of the Angolan chapter because I do Njinga in contemporary Angola. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Professor Heywood: Okay. Thank you. ^M00:59:37 [ Applause ] ^M00:59:40 >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov. ^E00:59:47