Abina and the Important Men is “A Graphic History” about a slave girl named Abina Mansah in 1876. After slavery was abolished, a courageous young woman was enslaved against her will in the British Empire, and took her case to court. Mansah escapes a town where she was held captive called Saltpond known today as Ghana. Abina was born in Asante and worked as a house girl long before she was enslaved in Saltpond. A man named Yowawhah took her to this coastal town, where a wealthy painter named Quamina Eddo wrongfully enslaved her. Abina was placed under different people including Eddo’s sister, Eccoah, and a male member of their family. At this point she decides to flee to a British colony called Cape Coast because she was free by law. Men like Quamina Eddo were referred to as the “important men” in Abina and the Important Men.

Abina was employed for James Davis, a Eurafrican translator and convinced James David to prosecute her former master, Eddo. Davis was against slavery …show more content…
Even though slavery was outlawed people found a way out of this and ignored slaves that were mistreated. The idea was that female slaves were voiceless and easy to manipulate and control and mostly unaware of their rights. The important part of this story is that the most defenseless people in need of a voice in history don’t get one and are basically erased from history. And the important men are those that create history. James Davis and James Hutton Brew raised the questions on how free someone can be and in the end Abina remains free to live on the Gold Coast. Despite that she was considered a free woman, her life was still controlled by the important men. The truth in “Abina and the Important Men” is that Abina’s freedom was limited by their decisions. They ran the economy, the justice system and the Gold Coast’s way of