via Wikimedia
With tendrils of black, kinky hair coiling down her back, a stunning half-human, half-fish goddess relaxes in her home of the sea.
Her dark flesh reflects in the water but, strangely, no eyes can bear witness to the beauty that is Mami Wata.
Prior to and especially during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, this beautiful African goddess’s responsibility was to provide spiritual and material healing to her worshippers while also protecting their emotional and mental health and growth.
She is the protector of water bodies after all, how could she not protect them too?
But Mami Wata also has a dark side.
Just as water is both life-giving and nurturing, it can also destroy vessels and drown even the most experienced swimmers.
As Black women do to this day, Mami Wata’s power commanded respect from those who wished to explore her depths.
As actress Halle Bailey finds inspiration for her once in a lifetime opportunity to infuse the character of Ariel in Disney’s live-action version of The Little Mermaid with the mesmerizing and powerful fierceness of a Black goddess, she need look no further than the legends of African ancestry.