Asante resistance · 1900

Yaa Asantewaa and the War of the Golden Stool

In 1900 a British governor demanded the sacred Golden Stool of the Asante. Yaa Asantewaa, queen mother of Ejisu, led the rising that followed. Students find out why the Asante lost the war but kept the stool.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1900 to AD 1914
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1900 a British governor demanded the sacred Golden Stool of the Asante. Yaa Asantewaa, queen mother of Ejisu, led the rising that followed. Students find out why the Asante lost the war but kept the stool.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Kumasi and Ejisu and explain the meaning of the Golden Stool.
  • Describe the causes and main events of the War of the Golden Stool in 1900.
  • Explain why Yaa Asantewaa is remembered as a national heroine in Ghana.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

b

AD 1900

Ejisu and Kumasi

Zoom in close to Kumasi and find the town of Ejisu about 12 km to the east. Yaa Asantewaa was the queen mother of Ejisu.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1914

After the war

Move to 1914. What is the whole region called on the map now? Britain annexed Asante in 1902.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why was the governor's demand to sit on the Golden Stool such a deep insult to the Asante?
  2. Yaa Asantewaa was a queen mother, not a king. What role did queen mothers have in Asante society?
  3. The Asante lost the war, but the British never got the Golden Stool. Who won in the long run?
  4. Yaa Asantewaa was exiled to the Seychelles, thousands of kilometers away. Why did colonial rulers send leaders so far from home?
  5. Yaa Asantewaa is a national heroine in Ghana today. Why do new nations look back to resistance leaders?
4

Game round

9 min

No ruler of 1900 is in Rule History. Play one round as Elizabeth I, another woman who led her people in a time of war, and compare her decisions with those of Yaa Asantewaa, who led the Asante rising of 1900.

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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