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Marching for Change
Bringing Overlooked and Lesser-Known History into Focus
Blake Williams
December 20, 2024
December 20th
Marching for Change
1949
No decision has yet been taken and the latest news we have learned is that three [of our husbands] are already in a state of extreme weakness. You are ignoring the considerable emotion already raised throughout the country by the news of the decision taken by our husbands [to go on a hunger strike]. Eight men are now dying in a prison, that is the hard truth. In the name of our children, and in our own names, we have come, Mr. Governor, to place your responsibilities before you.
Four days before two-thousand women marched on Grand-Bassam in protest of French colonial rule and the imprisonment of Parti Démocratique de Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) militants, women activists and wives of the prisoners wrote a letter to Governor Péchoux, appealing for the release of their fellow activists. The letter expressed the women’s desperation, urging the governor to free the prisoners. When their plea was ignored, the women organized a mass demonstration, known as the Women's March on Grand-Bassam.
The marchers embarked on a 30-mile journey across Ivory Coast, from Abidjan to Grand-Bassam. Traveling in small groups to avoid detection, they started on December 22nd and reassembled on December 24th near the prison. Their protest was met with violence by French soldiers, leaving dozens injured and four women prosecuted. Despite the pleas of these women, no prisoners were released.
This march marked the first public demonstration by women in the Ivory Coast, standing as a powerful symbol of resistance and leaving a lasting legacy in the nation’s struggle for freedom.