James Baquet A symbol can often be seen as identical to the thing it symbolizes. Saluting a flag honors the country it stands for; reverencing a photo of a deceased relative honors that person. In 1900, the southern area of the British colony of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in West Africa was occupied by the Ashanti people. They had a “Golden Stool” which was considered more than a symbol: It was actually believed to be the source of the king’s power, and contained the spirit of the Ashanti people, past, present and future. When, in 1896, the Ashanti king had been sent into exile, the British governor, Frederick Hodgson, said in a speech, “Where is the Golden Stool? I am the representative of the paramount power. Why have you relegated me to this ordinary chair?” This was too much for the Ashanti. To think of this interloper sitting on the sacred throne! Prempeh I’s mother, the Great Warrior Queen Yaa Asantewaa I, led the holy war against the British which lasted from March to September of 1900, and was also called the “Yaa Asantewaa War” in her honor. In a speech to rally the chiefs, the Queen said, “Some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. …[In the old days] no white man could have dared to speak to a chief of the Ashanti in the way the governor spoke to you. … If the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we, the women, will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.” Ashamed, 20,000 men rose up under her command. The small British force was blockaded in a makeshift stockade; the Ashanti cut their telegraph wires and prevented delivery of supplies. At last a relief column arrived, and key members of the British government escaped with their families. Although the Ashanti region was ultimately annexed into the Gold Coast, they remained largely self-governing. There had been over 1,000 British and 2,000 Ashanti casualties. The king returned a little over two decades later. As for the Golden Stool: It had been hidden in a forest until 1921, when a team of workers accidentally uncovered it. They stole its gold ornaments, for which an Ashanti court sentenced them to death. The British, however, commuted their sentence to exile. Vocabulary: Which words above mean: 1. one who interferes, intruder 2. fort 3. taken in, added to 4. isolated, cut off 5. placed in a lower position 6. low seat with no arms or back 7. temporary 8. supreme 9. paying respect to 10. reduced a punishment | 