Tòya was a well-respected, highly accomplished warrior for the Empire of Dahomey. She had reached the military position of gaou (general) in the all-female army under the then king of Dahomey, Dada Tegbessou, whose personal security she assured.
Around the year 1753, Toya’s village was raided by Eurochristian slavers. After a remarkable fight, Toya was able to disarm and defeat a number of pale men. She was eventually captured into a net and brought to the slave ships docked at the shores awaiting their horrified cargo. After the long journey from Dahomey to Saint Domingue, Aunt Tòya was ushered onto the auction block, where, after numerous humiliations, she was purchased by a slaver. Soon after arriving on the slaver’s plantation, Tòya escaped and headed straight to the mountains. For many days and nights, she attempted to recruit other maroons to join her army, but she didn’t meet the right people.
Ultimately, she befriended a runaway woman who was about to deliver a baby. Tata stopped to help her. The new mother insisted that Tòya take possession of the newborn boy and teach him freedom. She agreed. Tòya made the decision to return to the plantation with the child in order to effectively train him. She taught him the Yoruba language, the art and science of war, and a take-no-prisoners approach to battle. Tòya and the boy were continually separated by their slavers; however, divine nature would each time make their paths cross again. The boy would grow up to be the first leader of independent Haïti. This boy is Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
After the French were defeated and freedom won, Dessalines became Emperor of Hayti and Tòya as reunited with her protégé once again. The reunion was short lived as Tòya fell terminally ill. Dessalines issued his best doctors to her bedside, but ultimately on June 12, 1805, Agbayara Tòya transitioned to join the ancestors’ realm. Emperor Jacques mobilized his military to offer Agbayara the simplest and most dignified state funeral in the history of the Free Black Empire. ?
From book “Sheroes of the Haitian Revolution” by Bayyinah Bello. Illustration by Kervin Andre.
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