She would be a present from the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites. — Captain Frederick E. Forbes (image via National Portrait Gallery) In 1848, a tribal war in Nigeria laid waste to Yoruba villages and families. Five-year-old Princess Aina lost her parents and her home. The conquering King Ghezo enslaved her, preparing to kill her in a sacrificial rite — until British Navy commander Frederick E. Forbes intervened. Captain Forbes persuaded the king that sparing the child slave and "gifting her" to Queen Victoria would bode well for his tribe's relationship with the United Kingdom. King Ghezo agreed, and Forbes brought Aina aboard his ship bound for England, the
A Woman to Know: Sara Forbes Bonetta
A Woman to Know: Sara Forbes Bonetta
A Woman to Know: Sara Forbes Bonetta
She would be a present from the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites. — Captain Frederick E. Forbes (image via National Portrait Gallery) In 1848, a tribal war in Nigeria laid waste to Yoruba villages and families. Five-year-old Princess Aina lost her parents and her home. The conquering King Ghezo enslaved her, preparing to kill her in a sacrificial rite — until British Navy commander Frederick E. Forbes intervened. Captain Forbes persuaded the king that sparing the child slave and "gifting her" to Queen Victoria would bode well for his tribe's relationship with the United Kingdom. King Ghezo agreed, and Forbes brought Aina aboard his ship bound for England, the