Sarah Forbes Bonetta escaped slavery to become a friend of a monarch
The girl who became Sarah Forbes Bonetta was born as Aina, in an Egabao Yoruba village in West Africa, in 1843. In 1848, the Kingdom of Dahomey raided Aina’s village, decapitating her parents and capturing her. She was taken as a personal slave of the ruler of Dahomey, King Ghezo.
Dahomey profited greatly off of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and were loath to end the practice. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom had abolished slavery and were trying to end the practice in other…
