Miatta Fahnbulleh is a
Liberian singer and social activist.[1][2] As of May 2017, she was the interim coordinator of Concerned Citizens to Protect the Constitution.[3]
Fahnbulleh graduated from high school in
Sierra Leone, where her father was ambassador from Liberia.[10] She wanted to be a singer, but social obstacles in her home country against women performing in public venues led her to seek opportunities elsewhere.[10][11] She attended junior college in Kenya, returning to Liberia after dropping out.[10] After singing for a time in Monrovia,[10] she then left for the United States in 1968 to study journalism.[12]
In 1973, she visited Liberia to sing at the inauguration of President
William R. Tolbert Jr.,[12] and moved back altogether in 1974.[13] She toured Europe and West Africa and worked with
Hugh Masekela, touring the United States with him in 1976.[12][13] In 1977, she performed at the World Black Festival of Arts and Culture,
FESTAC 77, in
Lagos,
Nigeria.[12][13]
Fahnbulleh moved to England in 1977, where she remained, and performed, for seven years[12][13] until returning again to Liberia. Since then, she has become a strong advocate for women's and children's issues.[2][13] She has advocated for greater inclusion of women in high government positions,[14][15] and in 2005 she founded the school Obaa's Girls Educational Outreach (OGEO), which "offers more than 180 scholarships to girls whom she hopes will become Liberia’s next generation of leaders."[11][16] She made a bid for the Liberian senate in 2014.[2] She has represented the
Ministry of Health as Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal Mortality Reduction and Child Health.[17] As of May 2017, she was the interim coordinator of Concerned Citizens to Protect the Constitution.[3]
She features as narrator of the 2016 documentary The Land Beneath Our Feet, on land issues in Liberia.[18][19]