A Brief History
On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as the President of Liberia, the first female to be elected head of state of any African country.
Digging Deeper
Sirleaf had previously served as the Minister of Finance for Liberia but had escaped to the US after a 1980 coup put Samuel Doe in charge. Sirleaf was well acquainted with the US, having gone to college in the States, at Madison Business College, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Harvard.
Apparently Sirleaf must have done a good job, for she was reelected in 2011 and served two six-year terms until age 79. This pioneering African female politician won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work advocating women as peace negotiators as well as other awards.
While Sirleaf was the first elected African female head of state, previously women had led African countries as queens or as with Cleopatra, as Pharaoh.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Commey, Pusch. Seven Amazing African Queens and Dynasties: Bring me the head of the Roman Emperor. Pedelo, 2018.
Sirleaf, Ellen J. This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President. Harper Perennial, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Shaleah Craighead (1976–) of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf waves to the audience at her inauguration in Monrovia, Liberia, is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain.
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