Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny (born 17 September 1930) is the former

First Lady of Ivory Coast The first lady of Ivory Coast (French: ''Première dame de Côte d'Ivoire'') is the title attributed to the wife of the president of Ivory Coast. The current first lady is Dominique Ouattara, who has held the office since 11 April 2011. (Dominiqu ...

. Her husband was

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

, the first

President of Ivory Coast This article lists the heads of state of Ivory Coast, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, since the country gained independence from France in 1960. Alassane Ouattara has been serving as President of Ivory Coast since 4 December 2010. ...

from 1962 to 1993. She was born Marie-Thérèse Brou in 1930 in a suburb of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, Ivory Coast, French West Africa. She was one of her parents' six children. When Brou was 16 years old, she and nineteen other Ivorian girls were chosen to attend private school in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. While living in France, she met and married her husband,

, when she was 21 years old. Houphouët-Boigny was more than 25 years older than her. Houphouët-Boigny caught the eye of the media during 1962 visit to the Kennedy White House, and was dubbed "Africa's Jackie" or '

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

Jackie Kennedy" by the media. In 1987, Houphouët-Boigny founded the N'Daya International Foundation, dedicated to improving the health, welfare, and education of children in Africa. As the Foundation's president, she led numerous projects in support of children. In 1990, she helped create and produce ''Kimboo'', a cartoon series aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, to offer cartoon heroes to African children. Houphouët-Boigny was the first lady of the Ivory Coast for 33 years, until her husband's death in 1993. Félix and Marie-Thérèse did not have any biological children, but adopted three children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houphouet-Boigny, Marie-Therese Living people 1930 births First ladies of Ivory Coast