BIOGRAPHY
Julia Chikamoneka
The fierce activist and pioneer of freedom from colonial rule
(1910 - 1986)
Julia Mulenga ‘Chikamoneka’ was born Mary Nsofwa Lombe between 1904 and 1910 in Kasama Northern Zambi. She was the daughter of Mulenga Lombe son of Chief Chitimukulu-Ponde, who served as an African sergeant during the First world war.
The exposure to the welfare associations introduced Julia to politics and she quit her job and opened a food stall near Kabwata where she mobilized fellow women marketeers into organized protests groups for the NRAC which later became known as the African National Congress (ANC).
She used her position in the market where she interacted with many women of all walks of life to effectively recruit them to join ANC and encourage them to attend rallies. She went around at night ringing a stone-filled tin as a call to upcoming political events rallies.
She also took up a leading role in planning protest marches and organizing boycotts of shops that discriminated based on race. Julia Chikamoneka’s led protests had such profound effects and ultimately led to the independence of Zambia in 1964.
DIVE INTO HER LIFE
ARTIFACT SHE MAY HAVE USED
THE HEADREST
Made from one block of wood, with a support on top that has a depression to hold the neck of a sleeping person. The head rest has decorations made by chipping out pieces of wood, completely cut out of wood pieces and also engravings in the wood. The headrest is supported by two pieces of wood that are shaped like two half kneeling legs. Base of the head rests burnt in black as a way of treating the wood.