When Mary Slessor was born on 2nd December 1848, her parents would have had no idea that they were raising what would become one of Africa’s miracles. Mary’s determined work as a missionary to Nigeria and her strong personality allowed her to be trusted and accepted by the locals, spreading Christianity and promoting women’s rights.
Mary was born in Aberdeen but in 1859, at the age of eleven, she moved with her family to Dundee as her father was looking for work – he was an alcoholic so had to stop his work as a shoemaker. Because of her father’s lack of financial support, Mary was forced to get a job at the cotton mill, although her mother ensured that Mary only worked for half the day and attended the mill school for the other half.
Mary soon developed a strong interest in religion and joined a local mission teaching the poor. At the age of 27, she came to the realization that there had to be more to life than working in a cotton mill and it was news of the death of her long time hero, David Livingstone that made her even more determined to “Go forward” like him.
Approximately a year later, after months of training, Mary was on her way to Calabar which is in present day Nigeria. There she successfully fought against the killing of twins at infancy and the eating of humans. Mary Slessor had no children and never married, but she adopted many African children who had been abandoned by their parents, earning the nickname, “White Ma”.
The 39 years Mary spent with the people of different regions of Calabar were filled with varying adventures from healing hundreds of people (including chiefs), rescuing prisoners and/or slaves and wives from being murdered, saving and caring for countless children and babies, witnessing to the most frightening tribes, settling many disputes among tribes and neighbors, assisting chiefs in decisions for their tribe, and sometimes just looking a tribal person in the face and telling them about the love of God.
The land and people of Calabar were undoubtedly changed by her heroism. She died there in 1915 and was given a state burial. Today her legacy is remembered in both Nigeria and Scotland. She is fondly remembered as ‘The White Queen of Calabar’ and she was the first woman to appear on the front of a Scottish Clydesdale Bank Ten Pound Note.