Augusta Jawara

Hannah Augusta Darling Jawara, born Mahoney, was a Gambian nurse, playwright and women's rights activist. Born in May 1924 into a prominent Christian Aku Creole family, she was the daughter of Sir John Mahoney, the first Speaker of the Legislative Council of the Gambia. She studied at Mohammedan High School, where she first met her future husband Dawda Jawara, and trained in nursing in Edinburgh, Scotland. She married him in 1955, and they divorced in 1967 while he led the country as prime minister. In 1960 she stood unsuccessfully for her husband's party, the PPP, in Soldier Town, Bathurst, becoming the first woman candidate in a Gambian national election. She founded the Women's Contemporary Society in 1962, and she was president of the Gambia Women's Federation when her play Rebellion appeared in 1968. Her play The African King was produced at the Negro Arts Festival in Dakar in 1966. She died in London on 21 January 1981.