Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
Encyclopedia
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, born Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas to Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu, was a teacher, political campaigner, Women's rights
activist and traditional aristocrat
. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation.
Ransome-Kuti's political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria, as well as to her being regarded as “The Mother of Africa
.” Early on, she was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman's right to vote. She was described in 1947, by the West African Pilot
, as the “Lioness of Lisabi” for her leadership of the women of the Egba clan that she belonged to on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation. That struggle led to the abdication of the Egba
high king Oba Ademola II in 1949.
Kuti was the mother of the activists Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a musician, Beko Ransome-Kuti
, a doctor, and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti
, a doctor and health minister of Nigeria. She was the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car and to ride a bike.
.
Her father was a son of a returned slave from Sierra Leone
, who traced his ancestral history back to Abeokuta
in what is today Ogun State
, Nigeria.
He became a member of the Anglican Faith, and soon returned to the homeland of his fellow Egbas, Abeokuta.
She attended the Abeokuta Grammar school for secondary education, and later went to England
for further studies. She soon returned to Nigeria and became a teacher. On the 20th of January, 1925, she married the Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti. He also defended the commoners of his country, and was one of the founders of both the Nigerian Union of Teachers and of the Nigerian Union of Students.
Ransome-Kuti received the national honor of membership in the Order of Nigeria
in 1965. The University of Ibadan
bestowed upon her the honorary doctorate of laws in 1968. She also held a seat in the Western House of Chiefs of Nigeria as an oloye of the Yoruba people
.
provided dynamic leadership for women's rights in the '50s. She founded an organization for women in Abeokuta, with a membership tally of over 20 000 individuals spanning both literate and illiterate women.
of the time. In 1949, she led a protest against Native Authorities
, especially against the Alake of Egbaland. She presented documents alleging abuse of authority by the Alake, who had been granted the right to collect the taxes by his colonial suzerain, the Government of the Queen of England
. He subsequently relinquished his crown for a time due to the affair. She also oversaw the successful abolishing of separate tax rates for women. In 1953, she founded the Federation of Nigerian Women Societies which subsequently formed an alliance with the Women's International Democratic Federation.
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti campaigned for women's votes.
She was for many years a member of the ruling National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
party, but was later expelled when she was not elected to a federal parliamentary seat. At the NCNC, she was the treasurer and subsequent president of the Western NCNC women's Association.
After her suspension her political voice was diminished due to the direction of national politics, as both of the more powerful members of the opposition, Awolowo and Adegbenro, had support close by. However, she never truly ended her activism.
In the 1950s, she was one of the few women elected to the house of chiefs. At the time, this was one of her homeland's most influential bodies.
She founded the Egba or Abeokuta Women's Union along with Eniola Soyinka (her sister-in-law and the mother of the Nobel
Laureate
Wole Soyinka
). This organisation is said to have once had a membership of 20,000 women. Among other things, Fumilayo Ransom Kuti organised workshops for illiterate market women. She continued to campaign against taxes and price controls
.
and before the independence of her country, Funmilayo Kuti travelled widely and angered the Nigerian as well as British and American Government
s by her contacts with the Eastern Bloc
. This included her traveling to the former USSR, Hungary
and China
where she met Mao Tse Tung. In 1956, her passport was not renewed by the government because it was said that
She was also refused a US visa because the American Government alleged that she was a communist.
Also prior to independence she founded the Commoners Peoples Party in an attempt to challenge the ruling NCNC, ultimately denying them victory in her area.
She got 4,665 votes to NCNC's 9,755, thus allowing the opposition Action Group (which had 10,443 votes) to win.
She was one of the delegates that negotiated Nigeria's independence with the British government.
In 1978 Funmilayo was thrown from a second floor window when her son Fela's compound, a commune
known as the Kalakuta Republic
, was stormed by one thousand armed military personnel. She lapsed into a coma in February of that year, and died on the 13th of April, 1978, as a result of her injuries.
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
activist and traditional aristocrat
Nigerian traditional rulers
Nigerian traditional rulers often derive their titles from the rulers of independent states or communities that existed before the formation of modern Nigeria...
. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation.
Ransome-Kuti's political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria, as well as to her being regarded as “The Mother of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.” Early on, she was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman's right to vote. She was described in 1947, by the West African Pilot
West African Pilot
The West African Pilot was a newspaper launched in Nigeria by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1937, dedicated to fightingfor independence from British colonial rule.-Foundation and growth:...
, as the “Lioness of Lisabi” for her leadership of the women of the Egba clan that she belonged to on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation. That struggle led to the abdication of the Egba
Egba
The Egba are a clan of the Yoruba people who live in western Nigeria. Many Egba live in the city of Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State.- History :...
high king Oba Ademola II in 1949.
Kuti was the mother of the activists Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a musician, Beko Ransome-Kuti
Beko Ransome-Kuti
Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian medical doctor known for his work as a human rights activist.-Early life:...
, a doctor, and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti
Olikoye Ransome-Kuti
Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a paediatrician, activist, was a health minister in his native Nigeria.-Early life:He was born in Ijebu Ode in 1927, in present day Ogun State, Nigeria...
, a doctor and health minister of Nigeria. She was the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car and to ride a bike.
Life
Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas was born on the 25th of October, 1900, in AbeokutaAbeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
.
Her father was a son of a returned slave from Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, who traced his ancestral history back to Abeokuta
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
in what is today Ogun State
Ogun State
Ogun State is a state in South-western Nigeria. It borders Lagos State to the South, Oyo and Osun states to the North, Ondo State to the east and the republic of Benin to the west. Abeokuta is the capital and largest city in the state...
, Nigeria.
He became a member of the Anglican Faith, and soon returned to the homeland of his fellow Egbas, Abeokuta.
She attended the Abeokuta Grammar school for secondary education, and later went to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for further studies. She soon returned to Nigeria and became a teacher. On the 20th of January, 1925, she married the Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti. He also defended the commoners of his country, and was one of the founders of both the Nigerian Union of Teachers and of the Nigerian Union of Students.
Ransome-Kuti received the national honor of membership in the Order of Nigeria
Orders, decorations, and medals of Nigeria
Nigerian National Honours are a set of orders and decorations conferred upon Nigerians and friends of Nigeria every year. They were instituted by the National Honors Act No...
in 1965. The University of Ibadan
University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria...
bestowed upon her the honorary doctorate of laws in 1968. She also held a seat in the Western House of Chiefs of Nigeria as an oloye of the Yoruba people
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
.
Activism
Throughout her career, she was known as an educator and activist. She and Elizabeth AdekogbeElizabeth Adekogbe
Elizabeth Adekogbe was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, and women's rights leader. She was the leader of the Ibadan-based Women's Movement. In 1954, the movement changed its name to Nigerian Council of Women and in 1959, merged with the Women's Improvement League to form the National Council of...
provided dynamic leadership for women's rights in the '50s. She founded an organization for women in Abeokuta, with a membership tally of over 20 000 individuals spanning both literate and illiterate women.
Women's rights
Ransome-Kuti launched the organization into public consciousness when she rallied women against price controls which were hurting the female merchants of the Abeokuta markets. Trading was one of the major occupations of women in the Western NigeriaWestern State (Nigeria)
The former Western State of Nigeria was formed in 1967 when the Western Region was subdivided into the states of Lagos and Western State. Its capital was Ibadan, which was the capital of the old region....
of the time. In 1949, she led a protest against Native Authorities
Provinces of Nigeria
The Provinces of Nigeria are a former administrative division in Nigeria, which were in use in Colonial Nigeria and shortly after independence; from 1900 to 1967. They were altered many times through their history. They were divided into divisions, some of these were further subdivided into native...
, especially against the Alake of Egbaland. She presented documents alleging abuse of authority by the Alake, who had been granted the right to collect the taxes by his colonial suzerain, the Government of the Queen of England
Queen of England
Queen of England may refer to:* Any of the female monarchs of England* Any wife of a male monarch of England who functioned as his official consort during his reign; see List of English consorts...
. He subsequently relinquished his crown for a time due to the affair. She also oversaw the successful abolishing of separate tax rates for women. In 1953, she founded the Federation of Nigerian Women Societies which subsequently formed an alliance with the Women's International Democratic Federation.
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti campaigned for women's votes.
She was for many years a member of the ruling National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons , was a Nigerian political party from 1944 to 1966. The name included 'Cameroons' because Cameroon had become an administrative part of Nigeria in 1945. Cameroon had been a colonial territory of Germany...
party, but was later expelled when she was not elected to a federal parliamentary seat. At the NCNC, she was the treasurer and subsequent president of the Western NCNC women's Association.
After her suspension her political voice was diminished due to the direction of national politics, as both of the more powerful members of the opposition, Awolowo and Adegbenro, had support close by. However, she never truly ended her activism.
In the 1950s, she was one of the few women elected to the house of chiefs. At the time, this was one of her homeland's most influential bodies.
She founded the Egba or Abeokuta Women's Union along with Eniola Soyinka (her sister-in-law and the mother of the Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
Laureate
Laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary or military glory. It is also used for winners of the Nobel Prize.-History:...
Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
). This organisation is said to have once had a membership of 20,000 women. Among other things, Fumilayo Ransom Kuti organised workshops for illiterate market women. She continued to campaign against taxes and price controls
Price controls
Price controls are governmental impositions on the prices charged for goods and services in a market, usually intended to maintain the affordability of staple foods and goods, and to prevent price gouging during shortages, or, alternatively, to insure an income for providers of certain goods...
.
Travel ban
During the cold warCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and before the independence of her country, Funmilayo Kuti travelled widely and angered the Nigerian as well as British and American Government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
s by her contacts with the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
. This included her traveling to the former USSR, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
where she met Mao Tse Tung. In 1956, her passport was not renewed by the government because it was said that
.
it can be assumed that it is her intention to influence … women with communist ideas and policies
She was also refused a US visa because the American Government alleged that she was a communist.
Also prior to independence she founded the Commoners Peoples Party in an attempt to challenge the ruling NCNC, ultimately denying them victory in her area.
She got 4,665 votes to NCNC's 9,755, thus allowing the opposition Action Group (which had 10,443 votes) to win.
She was one of the delegates that negotiated Nigeria's independence with the British government.
Death
In old age her activism was over-shadowed by that of her three sons, who provided effective opposition to various Nigerian military juntas.In 1978 Funmilayo was thrown from a second floor window when her son Fela's compound, a commune
Commune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
known as the Kalakuta Republic
Kalakuta Republic
Kalakuta Republic was the name musician and political activist Fela Kuti gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria it had a free health clinic, and recording facility...
, was stormed by one thousand armed military personnel. She lapsed into a coma in February of that year, and died on the 13th of April, 1978, as a result of her injuries.
Achievements of Funmilayo Kuti
- One of the women elected to the native House of Chiefs, serving as an Oloye of the Yoruba peopleYoruba peopleThe Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
- Ranking member of the National Council of Nigeria and the CameroonsNational Council of Nigeria and the CameroonsNational Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons , was a Nigerian political party from 1944 to 1966. The name included 'Cameroons' because Cameroon had become an administrative part of Nigeria in 1945. Cameroon had been a colonial territory of Germany...
- Treasurer and President Western Women Association of the National Council of Nigeria and the CameroonsNational Council of Nigeria and the CameroonsNational Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons , was a Nigerian political party from 1944 to 1966. The name included 'Cameroons' because Cameroon had become an administrative part of Nigeria in 1945. Cameroon had been a colonial territory of Germany...
- Leader of Abeokuta Women's Union
- Leader of Commoners Peoples Party
- Leader of Nigeria Women's Union
- Winner of the Lenin Peace PrizeLenin Peace PrizeThe International Lenin Peace Prize was the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize, named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among peoples"...