History through Fabrics

Titina Sila (1943–1973) was one of the most important women leaders in the struggle for Guinea-Bissau’s independence from Portuguese colonial rule.
Born Cândida Sita Tamara Sila in the village of Cadique, she grew up in a rural family and witnessed the injustices of forced labor and colonial exploitation.
In her late teens she joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), quickly proving her ability to organize both fighters and civilians.

Titina became a key figure in logistics and community support, coordinating food supplies, medical care, and communication lines for guerrilla units operating in remote forest regions.
She also trained and led women’s brigades, challenging traditional gender roles and showing that the liberation struggle depended on women as much as on men.
Her combination of discipline, strategic thinking, and care for the civilian population earned her deep respect within the movement.

On January 30, 1973—just days after the assassination of Amílcar Cabral—Titina was killed when her convoy struck a landmine on the way to his memorial.
Her death shocked the movement and turned her into a lasting symbol of courage and sacrifice.
Today, she is honored every year in Guinea-Bissau on National Women’s Day, a reminder that independence was built on the labor and leadership of women like her.

Amílcar Cabral (1924–1973) was the principal strategist of the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde. Born in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, and raised in Cabo Verde, Cabral trained as an agronomist in Lisbon. His work surveying farmlands exposed him to rural poverty and colonial injustices, shaping a conviction that independence had to address both political freedom and the daily economic realities of ordinary people.

In 1956 he co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Under his leadership the PAIGC built a disciplined, community-based movement that combined armed struggle with education, health care, and agricultural reform. Cabral insisted that cultural identity was central to liberation, famously stating that “national liberation is necessarily an act of culture.”
He emphasized political education for fighters and civilians alike, believing that independence would mean little without social transformation and self-governance.

By the early 1970s the PAIGC controlled large parts of Guinea-Bissau, prompting Portugal’s colonial regime to weaken. On January 20, 1973, just months before Guinea-Bissau’s unilateral declaration of independence, Cabral was assassinated in Conakry, Guinea, in a plot involving Portuguese agents. Though he did not live to see formal independence, his writings and strategies on cultural dignity, rural development, and the ethics of revolutionary leadership continue to influence movements for justice and self-determination across Africa and beyond.