The Woman King

Em: 00:02:06

Hi, everyone. I'm Em. Welcome to verbal diorama, episode 290 of the Woman King.

This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies you know and movies you don't that always obeys Igozie. Welcome to Verbal Diorama.

Whether you are a brand new listener to this podcast or whether you're a regular returning listener who's coming back, thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast. I am so happy to have you here for the history and Legacy of the Woman King.

It is Women's History Month and this weekend is International Women's Day, and we rarely see women's stories in history.

And history being written by the victor is something I'll be mentioning a lot today because the role of women in society has meant that the men writing history have rarely seen fit to tell many stories of women. But thankfully, we have some incredible stories now coming to light.

This month on Verbal Diorama celebrates women from all walks of life, from warriors to queens to single mothers and women in sport.

But as always, a huge thank you to everyone who listens to this podcast and has continued to listen to and support this podcast over the last six years and now 290 episodes. This podcast recently celebrated its sixth birthday and it was just such a wonderful, joyous celebration of animated episodes.

Huge thank you to everyone for your continued support of this podcast. It genuinely means so much to me to be still doing this podcast and to be able to talk about movies like the Woman King, which Cards on the table.

I absolutely love this movie.

So it is a movie that I've been wanting to talk about for quite some time, but I've been saving it for this month in particular because it is Women's History Month.

International Women's Day is right around the corner as of the release of this episode, and it is a day and A month for us to remember the stories of the women who came before us, who inspire us, and who shape the world for women and girls today.

As a woman in podcasting who's inspired by women from all walks of life, all cultures and all professions, it made complete sense to me to focus on women in film. And not only women in film, but true stories of women put to film.

There was only one movie I wanted to start this month off with, A movie that I found incredibly inspiring and empowering, and a movie that, unsurprisingly, had an epic battle of its own to get made in the first place. Here is the trailer for the Woman King.

Em: 00:07:43

The Kingdom of dahomey.

West Africa: 1823

However, Gezo's participation in the slave trade paves the way for the inevitable violent confrontation between the Agoji, the Oyo and the slavers that will compromise the kingdom's future, let's as always, run through the cast of this movie.

We have Viola Davis as General Naniska, Tuso Mbedou as Nawi, Lashana lynch as Egozi, Sheila Atim as Amenza Hero Fine Tiffin as Santo Ferreira, John Boyega as King Gezo, Jordan Bolger as Malik and Jimmy Odokoya as General Oba.

The Woman king has a screenplay by Dana Stevens, a story by Maria Bello and Dana Stevens and was directed by Gina Prince bythewood Viola Davis, the only African American actor to achieve the triple crown of acting and the youngest person to achieve it all too an Oscar for Fences an Emmy for How to Get Away with murder and not one but two Tonys for fences and King Hedley II.

is also completed her EGOT in: 2023

This army of Women starts in: 2015

She traveled to the West African nation of Benin, formerly the Dahomey Kingdom, and while there learned the story of the Agoji, also known as the Dahomey Amazons or the Dahomey Mino, as she knew she wanted to tell their story, but as a white woman, she also knew it wasn't her story to tell.

d well into Hollywood too. In: 1995

On her regular trips to Kenya, she learned of the Agoji warrior women who served as the army for the Kingdom of Dahomey, an empire in West Africa founded in the 17th century.

Bello knew who she wanted for the movie and decided to shoot her shot at the Skirball Cultural center for the National Women's History Museum's Women Making History Awards in Los Angeles while presenting an award to Viola Davis mentioning African warriors, female Braveheart and Viola Davis being perfect for the part. That made the audience cheer and got Davis's attention along with her producing partner and husband Julius Tennant.

Kathy Schulman, CEO and President of well Entertainment, was an executive at STX Entertainment at the time and tried to get the movie set up there where it was offered for just $5 million.

ing her departure from STX in: 2016

Studios either wanted to cast well known light skinned black women, which felt historically inaccurate to the creators, or they didn't think the movie would make enough money to justify the budget it needed.

The project didn't yet have a script or a director, but Davis, Tennant, Schulman and Bellow met with Hannah Ningela, Sony Tristars, then Chief and Nicole Brown, mingela's then senior VP at the studio.

In the summer of: 2017

Within two years, the woman king was one of TriStar's top priorities when Brown took over as CEO and the movie was able to secure E1 as a co financier.

d the studio's green light in: 2020

Black Panther came out in: 2018

Black Panther's elite team of women fighters, the Dora Milaje, were inspired by the Agoji. As it would transpire, the Woman King would come out just two months before Black Panther Wakanda Forever.

And it would also lead to the infamous BAFTA song about Angela Bassett doing the thing and Viola Davis being my Woman King. But thanks to Black Panther, the green light was given for the Woman King and so the hunt was on for a director.

met Gina Prince Bythewood in: 2008

Gina Prince Bythewood, who'd previously directed the Old Guard for Netflix, became the first black woman to direct a major comic book adaptation. She also had the idea to make a Braveheart style epic which felt like a meeting of minds.

She would also take influence from Gladiator and the Last of the Mohicans.

Once Prince Bythewood was secured as a director, she got onto task straight away, and she prioritized women and people of color as department heads when assembling the crew for the five month shoot in South Africa.

These department heads included editor Teralyn Shropshire, visual effects supervisor Sara Bennett, costume designer Gersha Phillips, production designer Akin Mackenzie, and cinematographer Polly Morgan. Babalwa Mshishelwa, a local South African makeup artist, was hired to do the makeup.

Prince Bythewood wanted her actors, many of whom had experienced being on film sets where Stylists don't know how to style black hair to have a say in the film's hair.

Related Options Hairstylist Louisa Anthony was asked by the director to create short hairstyles, braids and cool, practical looks for the actors to wear during fight scenes.

Anthony combined 500 years of braiding culture to create a look that the audience would recognize while also paying homage to braiding styles of the past.

Each character's hairstyle changes through the movie as their arcs play out, and they even included a scene of a Gozi braiding Nawi's hair, a sign of sisterhood and bonding.

It's these little things that not having black women behind the scenes on this movie might have likely never been written, filmed or indeed left on the cutting room floor. In historic African braiding culture, women could use hair to symbolize their wealth, social status and whether or not they were married.

As Agojis rise through the ranks, their hair gets more elaborate. Naniska, as the highest in command, has a braided mohawk to fight and a relaxed braid for padded scenes.

Jamika Wilson was Viola Davis personal hairstylist.

Sergio Lopez Rivera was Davis's personal makeup artist, and he collaborated with Babalwa Michishelwa to create minimal makeup because these warriors aren't going to be in front of a mirror making themselves up for battle.

As well as intricate makeup designs for the king's many wives and prosthetic scarring to show how fierce these warriors were, with each scar telling its own story of each brutal fight, with the actor showing the emotional scarring of being on the front line of Dahomey's army. And for those fight scenes, they needed intensive physical training.

Gina Prince Bythewood joined them for a large portion of the torturous physical preparation the actors underwent. Before the shoot, the cast spent four months lifting weights with trainer Gabriella McLean for 90 minutes every day.

After that, they trained for three and a half hours with stunt coordinator Danny Hernandez, which included martial arts, running and using swords and speed. BE as Clarissa Shields, a professional boxer, served as Davis's model for strength, stance and focus during workouts.

Viola Davis once ran a mile on the treadmill in 6 minutes, 23 seconds. But it wasn't just going to be physically exhausting for these actors.

It was also going to be potentially mentally and emotionally exhausting as well.

For the filming of Naniska's rape scenes, Prince Boyd would reference Christine Blasey Ford's testimony at Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination hearing and asked Davis to read the Roxane Gay book Hunger, a memoir about gay's own sexual assault.

It was their intention for the scenes to be filmed from Naniska's perspective and for Naniska to reclaim her power over her rapist later in the movie. Rounding out the cast were British actors Lashana lynch and John Boyega and Ugandan British actor Sheila Atim.

Lynch had signed on to play Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical Thirst before signing on to the Woman Key, and while both movies are wildly different, the characters are both friendly, loving and a mentor to the younger characters of Matilda and Nawi. She finished filming Matilda, then changed up her diet and exercise regime for the woman king.

Sheila Atim played Amenza, Naniska's close friend and confidant. Atim ended up taking her practice spear home and knocking over glasses in her kitchen.

She also wanted to understand Amenza's spirituality and talk to a Voden expert in Benin. Foden, which is a West African traditional religion, embraces death and the afterlife.

When Egozi is killed, Amenza takes her weapons and her aggression. And this was based on her real life friendship with Lynch.

And of course everyone said that working with Viola Davis was working with one of the most skilled, inspirational, professional and brilliant actors in the business. Of course making any period movie is hard. We weren't there after all.

And records can be sketchy, especially visual ones, especially records about women. And just FYI, apologies for the butchering of any pronunciation in this episode. I genuinely am really trying my best to pronounce names correctly.

Princeton professor Leonard Wonchikon consulted as a historical advisor on the movie, confirming that all official leadership roles in Dahomey were balanced between a man and a woman, hence having a king and a woman.

King Wanchikon, who has Agoji in his extended family, had been working on 51 biographies of the warrior women, visiting the places where they lived and died and speaking to their descendants. Representation and gender balance in 19th century Dahomey was head and shoulders above the so called developed world of the 20th century.

Women were raised in Dahomey to be independent, brave and strong. Gender inclusivity also influenced the Agoge's clothing and reference.

Photographs taken between: 1870

Each character in the movie had their own unique symbol etched into cross belts.

first mentioned in writing in: 1729

dger during his reign between: 1645

In any case, king gezo officially included the agoji in dahomey's army in the 19th century, after Dahomey's male population had drastically decreased As a result of the kingdom's constant battles, Giving women the chance to take men's place on the battlefield. King gezo was a totalitarian king.

He controlled almost every part of dahomean social lives, and both volunteers and forced conscriptions Fueled his army, including the agoji, Forcing enslaved people and captives from other villages to become warriors for dahomey, Some as young as 8 to 10 years old. There's a lot in this movie that is factual that we know of. At least all of dahomey's women warriors Were considered third tier wives of the king.

They lived in the royal palace Alongside the king and his other wives, Inhabiting a largely women dominated space.

This is a movie firmly focusing on black women in these positions of power and strength and influence, Something we rarely get to witness as viewers in mainstream hollywood. Aside from eunuchs and the king himself, no men were allowed in the palace after sunset.

Celibacy was enforced, but they also did have privileges not normally associated with women at the time, Such as protection from men, A high social standing, Supplies of luxuries like tobacco and alcohol, and they could rise to positions of influence within the palace. They would have held a higher status in society Than other dahomean women, but they were still subject to the whims of king gazo.

They were not allowed to take lovers or bear children, and they had to be totally faithful to the king.

Due to dahomey's participation in the slave trade, it's highly likely that the agoge also had enslaved people Cooking and cleaning for them Alongside the royal servants, who were probably also enslaved people. And this is the elephant in the room that we need to address. There's no way to sugarcoat it, Even though the woman king does try to.

But While it doesn't diminish the responsibility. Of Europe and america. For creating and driving the demand. For the atlantic slave trade.

And the enslavement of people of color, African nations like the kingdom of dahomey. Were also involved in the slave trade. And dahomey itself was profiting from the sale of enslaved people.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, the Dahomean army, including the Agoji warriors, Conducted regular raids on neighboring peoples and kingdoms. These raids were specifically aimed. At capturing people. To sell into slavery. Both domestically and overseas. Dahomey developed sophisticated systems.

For capturing, holding, and trading enslaved people. The port of ouidah became one of the major slave trading points in west Africa.

By the 18th century, the slave trade had become Dahomey's primary source of wealth. The kingdom received european goods, including firearms, in exchange for enslaved people, which helped maintain their military dominance.

The slave trade was centrally controlled by the monarchy. The king held a monopoly on the trade. And all transactions had to go through royal channels.

Though king Gezo did at one point Explore palm oil production.

As an alternative source of revenue, as naniska suggests in the movie, it proved far less lucrative, and the king soon resumed Dahomey's participation in the slave trade.

They developed relationships with European traders, Particularly Portuguese and brazilian merchants, as is also depicted in the movie between the oyo and the Portuguese slave merchants. The trade was so integral to the Dahomey economy.

end their involvement in the: 1840

e colonised the region in the: 1890

And killing between 2 to 4,000 Dahomean soldiers, both men and women, it's said that just 50 or 60 agoji remained ready for battle. After the french colonization of dahomey, when it became known as French dahomey. And the French government then outlawed.

The capture and sale of enslaved people. Historical estimates suggest that dahomey may have supplied. Hundreds of thousands of people. Into the Atlantic slave trade.

Over the course of its involvement. And unlike John Boyega's depiction in the movie, the real king gazo was an enthusiastic participant in the slave trade. And did not want to stop.

King Gazo controlled the agoji, and so they were also complicit in the slave trade. Now, it is important to note at this point.

That history, as I've said, Is written by the victors, and it's highly likely that there was an anti slavery movement in Dahomey.

It's also likely that the trade wasn't as lucrative for the kingdom as records state, because the records are easily skewed by the racism of the time.

movie is set specifically in: 1823

reak free of oyo's control in: 1823

ield experience. Nawi died in: 1979

Agoji traditions continued long after Dahomey's fall, With descendants of the Agoji sharing stories about their ancestors.

a Nyong'o visited Benin for a: 2019

At one point, Lupita Nyong'o was attached to play Nawi, and Nyong'o also played former Dora Milaje, now international spy for Wakanda nakia, in black panther. Nyong'o dropped out of the role early on in process.

Coincidentally, after fronting the documentary, and after hearing the stories of ancestors of people captured and enslaved because of dahomey's participation in the slave trade, she felt uncomfortable with the tribe's legacy. Violence. The character of Nawi would be rewritten younger, and Tuzo Mbedu would be cast instead.

Mbedu in her first major film role after starring in Barry Jenkins series the underground railroad Alongside co star Sheila Atim, and as her character, is basically given to the king for being insolent and refusing to take part in an arranged marriage. She ends up training to be an Agoji and learns of her biological mother.

It was a scene that was incredibly personal to director Gina Prince bythewood, who was herself adopted as a child, and it consisted of dialogue she longed to hear from her own biological mother.

by a French naval officer in: 1889

In: 1851

The character of Santo Pereira was loosely inspired by Francisco Felix de Souza, a Brazilian slave trader who was an ally of King Gezo and became an important figure in the proliferation and continuation of the Dahomey slave trade.

ming in cape town in November: 2021

covered, resuming in January: 2022

The actors playing the Agoji were quarantined in a hotel, as were the stunt performers. An elaborate 11 day battle sequence with hundreds of actors and stunt people had to be rescheduled and re rehearsed after the interruption.

Because of the controversy surrounding the accuracy of the story of the Woman King, several news outlets published stories complaining this led to the American Descendants of Slavery or ADOs, calling to boycott the movie, arguing it glorified a nation responsible for brutality against its descendants. Historians weighed in viewing their concerns.

The social media hashtag Boycott Womanking trended for days as the debate raged on with others defending the uplifting narrative of powerful dark skinned black women, including its star Viola Davis and director Gina Prince Bythewood on claims the movie was fictionalized, Davis responded that it had to be. It was a movie, it was there to entertain and if people wanted further education, the movie was a jumping point for that.

And speaking of jumping points, it's time to segue into the obligatory Keanu reference of this episode, and if you don't know what that is, it's where I link the movie that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves. As it turns out, it is pretty difficult to link Keanu Reeves to the Woman King.

He's not a woman king, but he is a respectful king towards women and that is the easiest way for me to link Keanu to the Woman King. As I always say, all men should be more like Keanu Reeves and Keanu Reeves is a respectful king.

Now, although there is a trailer that uses a Beyonce track, there are no Beyonce songs on the official soundtrack.

Composer Terence Blanchard, who collaborated with the 9 Voice Vox Noir ensemble in his opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones, recruited them again for the score for the Woman king.

They spent five days recording with the 78 member Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow with a choir led by Tezier Kwateng, a Ghanaian American mezzo soprano.

The movie also features three chant and dance numbers by South African composer Lebo M, who also sang the opening Zulu chant of the Circle of Life from the Lion King. Jesse Wilson, Jeremy Letito and Angelique Kijo wrote and performed the original song Keep Rising which was featured in the end credits.

Angelique Kijo has a small role in the movie as the Muon.

September: 2022

On its second week, Don't Worry Darling released and went to number one with the Woman King dropping to second just above a re release of Avatar in third. In its third week it dropped to third and it stayed in the top ten for seven weeks on its $50 million budget.

The Woman King made $67.3 million domestically in the US and $30.2 million internationally for a total worldwide gross of $97.6 million. It has a 94% to Rotten Tomatoes with all out praise for Viola Davis as well as the breakout performance by Tusso Bedou.

But as I've mentioned, there is also a lot of criticism for this movie and honestly much of it feels undeserved. Were the same people calling out Braveheart for its historical inaccuracies?

Or Titanic or Catch Me if youf can or any other Hollywood movie based on a true story. I mean Titanic just gets the whole two people could fit on that door and every other inaccuracy seems to be forgotten about.

It does feel like a lot of the criticism for inaccuracy is unfairly held at the Woman King. It's almost as if black women need to work 10 times as hard to get a sliver of the amount of recognition and reward. Right.

Speaking of, while the woman King received three nominations at the baftas and one at the golden Globes, the academy awards seemed to shut the movie out completely.

While Viola Davis was being lauded for her incredible performance as Naniska, receiving a bafta nomination and a golden globe nomination for best actress, as well as a screen actors guild award nomination and a critics choice award nomination, the academy awards seemed completely ignorant of the movie. Director Gina Prince Bythewood would state in an interview with new Hollywood reporter that, quote, the woman King wasn't snubbed.

A snub is if it missed out on a category or two. The film was not nominated for one single craft. Not one single extraordinary performance was recognized. And when has that happened?

For a successful film that hit all the so called markers, it's not a snub. It's a reflection of where the academy stands and the constant chasm between black excellence and recognition.

And sadly, this is not just an issue in Hollywood but in every industry. I'm going to use a Dr.

King quote because it's so apropos in that he spoke on the lie of our inferiority accepted as truth in the society dominating us. As I moved through this awards season, I was struck by the academy members who simply didn't want to see the film.

People thought it was a compliment at some of our screenings to tell me they had to be dragged there because they didn't think it was a film for them or spoke of contemporaries who couldn't be convinced to come with them and being so surprised by how much they loved the film. To hear that over and over, it's tough to stomach. I don't approach any film like that. I saw everything everywhere all at once.

And top maverick because I heard they were really good. When you hear that, you go to the movie or you look at the trailer and say, I want to see that. That looks good to me.

We black women do not get that same grace. So the question we need to ask is why is it so hard to relate to the work of your black peers?

What is this inability of academy voters to see black women and their humanity and their heroism as relatable to themselves, unquote.

I'm going to actually link the complete article of Gina Prince bytheword's interview with the Hollywood Reporter because it is a fascinating interview and also highlights, I think, a lot of the struggles that black women still face in Hollywood and black people in general still face in Hollywood that despite Them making excellent movies like this one that there was so much apathy around it from people in Hollywood, like, are they okay?

In: 2022

Having a movie where Boyega's king is a more antagonistic character worked to raise the historical inaccuracies of the Woman King, but it would at least go some way towards presenting a more accurate depiction of historical events. But so far, no sequel or indeed prequel is forthcoming.

Regardless of the criticisms about inaccuracies, I see one thing and one thing only when I watch this movie. Empowered black women in a movie that places those women in positions that mainstream Hollywood never really has.

For all Black Panther did, the focus was on T'Challa and the wonderful late Chadwick Boseman. Women were present in Black Panther and women were highlighted, but not like this. And here's the thing.

If you want a history lesson, go to a history class. This movie has its detractors, but it did a great job telling a story that we would never have otherwise known of. I'm going to say it again.

History is told by the victors. Why would colonizing nations know of female warrior tribes? You sometimes have to have a little dramatic license in movies like this, and that's okay.

The horrors of the slave trade are there. They're just not as explicit as they were in real life.

When asked about the historical accuracy of the Woman King, in an interview with Buzzfeed, John Boyega said, quote, I think this film has a very nuanced take on that time in history. It's a movie about self reflection, It's a movie about trauma, and it's a movie about pain.

As creators, we are here to shine a light on the realities of the world. We're not necessarily always here to preach a very accepting message.

Art can live in a moral or immoral space and could sometimes just be about shining a light on human nature, history, and the reality of that conflict.

So for me, including that just shows that there is a way in which we can embrace stories that accept the fact that humanity is not perfect while also being entertaining and something you can learn from, unquote.

One thing that this movie does very well in its narrative surrounding enslaved people is how despicable it is and also how easy it seems to be for these people to profit off selling Africans to the highest bidder. It made me Feel very uncomfortable as to the ease of those trades. But I guess that's the point.

By this time, the slave trade was the primary source of income for many people, both colonizing nations and African nations. If the movie had gone deeper into the accuracy of the Atlantic slave trade, I feel like the movie just wouldn't work as what it's supposed to be.

A story of empowerment, of women's stories, of black excellence, of black women's excellence. It would be deeply uncomfortable. I get that's the point.

But in doing so, you're taking away from the women at the center of this story who are not enslaved. African history is complex. The history of slavery is complex.

But fundamentally, without colonizing nations in Europe and America driving the slave trade, African nations wouldn't also be complicit in it and profiting off of it. So I guess what I'm basically saying is white people are still at fault.

And to have a period movie starring primarily dark skinned black people where the lead actors aren't just playing slaves is, quite frankly, something we need more of from Hollywood movies. And I'm speaking as a very white, very British millennial. I would have loved to have seen this growing up. I would have wanted to see these stories.

To have this movie made so incredibly by a team of primarily women and women of color must be incredibly inspirational for black women and girls. Something made for the diaspora.

And bringing together a team of people from different African backgrounds being filmed in South Africa, it makes you realize how starved we all are of stories from Africa, of Hollywood movies set in Africa, of movies featuring Africans where there's no white savior. There is a mixed race guy.

But while he, quote unquote, saves Nawi by buying her, she's then free to go back to Dahomey without him, despite being promised a life in Britain. But to be honest, I can imagine 19th century Britain not being the most welcoming place for a young black woman.

And while I wasn't sure about a shark tooth staying under a baby's skin for the best part of 18 years, I did find a story about a surfer who was attacked while surfing when he was 13. And a piece of whatever it was, his tooth, was embedded in his foot for almost 20 years.

His immune system had started to break it down, but it got extracted and the now adult Jeff Weakley went to the Florida Museum of Natural History to find out what the sliver of tooth was. They found out it was in fact a shark's tooth. A black tip shark, to be precise.

e there was no DNA testing in: 1823

I don't know if you are a scientist and you know of baby biology, let me know what you think about the shark tooth, but it does just seem a little bit far fetched to me. Anyway, minor gripes aside, and my gripes with this movie are so unbelievably minor. I love this movie so much. I love Viola Davis.

I think she is so badass and I always thought she was such an incredible dramatic actor and then I find out she is and she can kick ass as well.

Honestly, such a powerhouse of a woman and I have loved Lashana lynch since Captain Marvel and I will still go to bat for that movie and for Maria Rambeau, who was a character gone far too soon in my opinion. Lashana lynch is such an incredible talent.

The whole cast are perfect and I hope we see the rise of Tusso and Bedu because this was her first major movie role and she holds her own against Viola freaking Davis. And I love how Naniska learns and grows from her relationship with Nawi just as Nawi grows from hers with Naniska.

It is a beautiful movie about love and friendship and sisterhood and kicking ass.

I am so sad this movie didn't get any Academy Awards recognition and considering the Academy has been trying to stave off the Oscars so white controversy, you'd think this would be the perfect movie to uplift and highlight. There is no better movie to kick off women's history than than the incredible, mostly true story of the Agoji.

To be a warrior, you must kill your tears. No.

To be a warrior you learn to fight together, to go back for the fallen, to surround your sisters with love, to grieve your losses and forgive the innocent. To be a warrior, you find the man who wronged you and you make him remember exactly who you are. They do not know the evil that is coming.

Turn your back and see how true my aim is. Thank you for listening. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Woman King and thank you for your continued support of this podcast.

If you want to get involved and help this podcast grow, you can leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast. You can find me at verbal diorama all across social media.

You can like post, you can follow me, you can share posts, you can comment on posts that all helps with visibility. Or you could also tell your friends and family about this podcast and about this episode.

And if you like this episode on the Woman King, you might also like a different movie, but also a movie purely focused on the excellence of Black women.

A couple of years ago I did an episode on the movie Hidden Figures, which again was a movie that I didn't know anything about these amazing Black female mathematicians who worked at NASA. Now again, Hidden Figures is not completely accurate to the experience of these women who worked at NASA in the 60s.

However, it is an incredible movie with some incredible performances in it and I feel like if you wanted to have a Black female excellence double bill, you couldn't go wrong with the Woman King and Hidden Figures. My episode on Hidden figures is episode 204.

So the next episode of this podcast we are going from the Woman King to the Virgin Queen, Queen Elizabeth ii. The late Queen of the UK isn't a direct descendant of Queen Elizabeth the First, but they share a name, long reigns and lasting legacies.

gland, Wales and Ireland from: 1558

In: 1998

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