The Background of Let Me Die Alone by John Kosola

Let Me Die Alone is based on the historical marital life and times o f Madam Yoko, a legendary monarch of the Mende people. Let Me Die Alone (1976) addresses the gender struggles of the famous Madam Yoko, who was the first notable female Paramount Chief over the Mende people in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Although she was influential with the British, and was one of the most powerful rulers of the Kpaa Mende Confederacy, her femaleness remained at the core of the many crises she encountered both within and without her chiefdom. Playwright John Kolosa Kargbo, fondly known as JK in the theatre world, depicts the life of this celebrated female ruler in Let Me Die Alone. In his portrayal, Yoko is a beautiful, ambitious, andcourageous woman who joins an all-male secret society (the feared Poro Society) and consequently loses herright to motherhood, though not to her sexuality. In becoming a male-female,Yoko is much feared by her male contemporaries, envied by women in her constituency, and doubly pliable in the hands of the British rulers. History tells us that before Gbanya,Yoko's husband, died in 1878, he had asked Governor Rowe and some of his relatives to secure the throne for Yoko, his senior wife. However, Yoko did not secure the throne until Movee, Gbanya's successor, died in 1884. The colonial government then installed her as a "dependable ally" (Alie 1990).Seen by many of her subjects as ausurper and a friend of the colonial administration, she remainedcontroversial through out her reign until her death in 1906. In the play, this controversy is packaged as a defiance of the cultural norm that women should not be rulers during war times. Being a visionary who willingly gives up the privilege of childbearing for the leading chieftaincy title in all of Kpaa Mende, she is willing to disprove the myth of female inferiority. As historian Joe Alie reports, Yoko was eveninstrumental in the arrest of many chiefs who participated in the Hut Tax War, the subject of the next play by Julius Spencer. Greatly feared by many male chiefs, Yoko was able to gain oversight of their chiefdoms.Yoko also wielded tremendous influence with the colonial rulers, although in the end the colonialists betrayed her.

Madam Yoko or Mammy Yoko (ca 1849-1906)

Madam Yoko or Mammy Yoko,originally called Soma, was born around 1849 in the Gbo Chiefdom. She was a leader of the Mende people in Sierra Leone. Combining advantageous lineage, shrewd marriage choices and the power afforded her from the secret Sande Society, Yoko became a leader of considerable influence. She expanded the Mende. Kingdom and at the time of her death, she was the ruler of the vast Kpa Mende Confederacy. She changed her name to Yoko at her Sande initiation ceremony, during which time she became known for her graceful dancing. Yoko's first marriage, which was unsuccessful, was to a man named gongioma leaving Gongoima, Yoko's second husband was Gbenjei, Chief ofT mama Yoko reinajned childless, Gbenjei made her his great wife with prominent attention, giving her power within her household. Following Gbenjei's death, Yoko married Gbanya Lango. In 1875, Gbanya was detained by Colonial Officials in Taiamawaro. Yoko went directly to Governor Roweto appeal for her husband's release. Rowe was impressed with Yoko's appeal and Gbanya was flogged, and then released. following this incident, Gbanya made Yoko his great wife and began sending her on diplomatic missions, With the Sande, Yoko was able to wield significant power not only amongst women but also over Mende society as a whole. As a leader in this women's secret society, she made political alliances and took younger initiates as "wards" later marrying them into other aristocratic lineages in an imitation of the trajectory of her own rise to power, In1878, following her third husband's death, Yoko became the chief of Senehun. By 1884, she was officially recogniscd as "Queen of Senehun". This recognition came not only from her own people, but also from the British. She died in 1906, rumoured to have committed suicide. Lamboi her brother succeeded her because she had no descendants of her own. This popular play was in great demand with theatre audiences. The play however angered both the government and some members of the Poro Society in Freetown; this latter response sent Kargbo and other members of Songhai Theatre (later renamed African Heritage Workshop) temporarily into hiding.