Mary Prince features in new card game
Slavery abolition icon Mary Prince features in a new children’s card game designed as a tribute to inspirational women from around the world.
Super Sapiens was created by Bermudian mother Alexa Virdi, who said it was difficult to find games that allowed her mixed heritage daughter to see people who looked like her.
The card game, which can be played as Snap, Memory or Guess Who, features Ms Prince alongside other historical figures such as scientist Marie Curie, Fatima al-Fihri, who founded the oldest continuously operating university, the University of Al-Qarawiyyin, in Morocco in 859, and Maggie Walker, an American businesswoman and the first black woman to charter a bank in the country.
Some of the profits will be used to establish an annual scholarship for a Bermudian school pupil from a disadvantaged background to attend a one-week summer school at Oxford University in England, which was designed to inspire young people to apply to the university.
Other cash will go to community organisations and charities across the world. Ms Virdi, whose daughter, Ava, is 3, said she hoped the game would help all children “see themselves in the games they play”.
She said: “I really wanted our daughter to be able to play a game where she could see more people who look like her.
“It is important to have an age-appropriate way to help to show her that we are all part of the same human race, while at the same time introducing her to the global achievements of women, the legacies of history and realities of privilege, inequality and forms of white supremacy.”
She added: “Reflecting on my personal experience, the more I have learnt about the history of enslavement and segregation, the more I am in awe of the black Bermudians who, despite the myriad of barriers put in place, fought to succeed while also sacrificing so much to empower others.”
Super Sapiens is designed to help children “explore hidden histories, cultivate understanding about the world, and develop self-love and self-acceptance”.
In addition to the 54 cards provided, each game can be personalised with custom-made cards of a child, family and friends. The game will be donated to schools in Oxford and Bermuda.
Liza Mickens, the great-great-granddaughter of Maggie Walker, said: “I could not think of a better way to honour my great-great-grandmother’s inspiring legacy.
“As an educator and entrepreneur herself, she would appreciate how this game gives children and parents the opportunity to discover unknown ‘sheros’ in our history.”
Tawana Tannock, a former chairwoman of Bermuda Human Rights Commission, said: “Super Sapiens not only uncovers hidden histories and celebrates human rights in a fun inclusive way, but also promotes self-esteem.”
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