Cécile Fromont, professor of the History of Art, was featured in the Netflix docudrama “African Queens: Njinga.” This four-part series focuses on the leadership of Njinga, the 17th-century queen of the Ndongo and Matamba territories, which is modern-day Angola. As an on-screen scholar, Fromont appears in each episode to discuss how the Atlantic slave trade and colonialism impacted Njinga’s reign.    

Fromont’s work contributes to the telling of an essential historical story. In an interview with Yale News, Fromont explained that Njinga “is, in fact, a household name in most of the Atlantic world and in South America, particularly in Brazil, as a kind of a mythical character who embodies the values of strength, tenacity, and ideas of Black sovereignty — of power and empowerment in the face of outside forces.” She also said, “The whole shuffling of the Atlantic world, including European politics, was related to her actions and to some of the decisions she made.”

Through Fromont’s contribution, the global community gains a better understanding of African history and the larger story of the 17th-century world. 

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To read the full interview, visit the Yale News website.