Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti - 10 Things To Know About The First Woman To Drive A Car In Nigeria

One of the most popular quiz questions we were asked in primary school was, "Who was the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria" I bet most cannot remember the answer to this anymore. 

Anyhoo, today's topic will dwell on this vibrant person and how she was much more than the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria

A 70th birthday portrait of Madam Olufunmilayo

She was born Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas in October 25, 1900.

She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car.

She was the first female student to enroll at the co-educational Abeokuta Grammar School, the school was initially open to only male students.

From 1919 to 1922, she went abroad and attended a finishing school for girls in Cheshire, England. She learned elocution (formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms), music, dress-making, French and other domestic skills.

Due to the racism she faced whilst in England, she made a decision to permanently use her Yoruba name "Funmilayo", instead of her Christian name "Frances".

She was popularly called "Lioness of Lisabi" in the media (Lisabi was a traditional hero of the Egba people) due to her unwavering activism.

She married Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on 20th of January 1925. Israel was a school principal, who later became a co-founder of both the Nigerian Union of Teachers and Nigerian Union of Students.

She and her husband birthed four children: A daughter 'Dolupo', and sons Olikoye, Olufela and Bekolari.

She was an educator, political campaigner and women's right activist.

She established the Abeokuta Women's Union and advocated for women's rights demanding better representation of women in local governing bodies and an end to fair taxes on market women. She led protests of up to 10,000 women forcing the ruling Alake of Egba land at that time Oba ladapo Ademola II to temporarily renounce his throne.

Oh wait, don't go, there's more...

She made some changes to her name

Her birth name was Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas, she was born on the 25th of October, 1900. She decided to drop her English names and permanently keep, and answer to her Yoruba name "Funmilayo", after she faced some racist experiences whilst furthering her education in the United Kingdom.

She was the first female enrolled to Abeokuta Grammar School

The school was initially open to only male students but enrolled its first female students in 1914. Funmilayo was the first female to be admitted to the school, however, five other girls were accepted later that year. She travelled to Wincham Hall School for Girls, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom from 1919 - 1922 (unesco.org) to further her education. She acquired many skills like music, dressmaking, elocution, French language and other domestic skills. 

She established Abeokuta Ladies Club 

Abeokuta Ladies Club was established in 1932 by Funmilayo. The focus of the club was about teaching women how to sew, perform catering services, charity work, while others took adult educational classes. One of her famous quotes "The true position of Nigerian women had to be judged from the women who carried babies on their backs and farmed from sunrise to sunset___not women who used tea, sugar and flour for breakfast" stemmed from the discussion she had with an illiterate friend who asked for her help with learning how to read and write.

 In 1946, the Abeokuta Ladies Club was renamed to Abeokuta Women's Union, which made it open to all women in Abeokuta. The organisation also changed its focus from teaching women, to tackling unjust taxes and price controls imposed on market women. Inspired by accomplishing a lot of their goals, the AWU made a decision to expand into other regions and ethnic structures, therefore, changing their name to the Nigerian Women's Union.

Subsections were created in Kano and many other areas. Many of its members joined in the struggle for independence with political parties such as the Action Group or the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). A managerial committee was brought together to try to keep enlightened women and illiterate businesswomen, including market women on the same equilibrium. To bring unity among the women and avoid class conflict, Funmilayo and other educated members often spoke Yoruba and dressed in traditional Yoruba attires to the Union meetings and events. The Union majorly stood for reformation and in 1953, it later transformed into the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Society (FNWS) with the major goal of articulating women’s position in Nigerian society. The Union experienced massive growth that saw them accommodate over 90,000 supporters. 

She was a feminist and women's right activist who unseated a reigning Alake (King of Abeokuta)

Funmilayo's first major and well-known political activism came to note when she led the Abeokuta Women's Union in a protest against taxes imposed on women. Asides from regular income and water usage taxes, market women were mandated to pay a special tax that went directly to market supervisors. Women/Girls as young as 15 years old were stripped naked and had their body assessed to determine their age, in order for them to be charged taxes. The girls were as young as 15 whereas the boys were as young as 16 when they were being taxed. The protest was organised under the slogan 'No taxation without representation'. Wives were taxed separately from their husbands, regardless of their income. 

Before the colonial policy of direct rule women in Abeokuta had enjoyed some form of representation in government and were not taxed directly. The Iyalode usually held such a position.

The women also protested against corrupt traditional leaders and their negligence of women's demands or to fight the colonial authorities. One of the most remarkable events of the Union was their protest against the Alake Ademola II (the King of Abeokuta) for imposing uncomfortable food trade regulations for the people. The Alake (Ademola II), who had a European-style education, came to power in 1920. He worked in collaboration with the corrupt British leaders to take advantage of his position and to embezzle taxes and steal lands. 

A group of 10,000 women staged a large demonstration on the 29th and 30th of November 1947 against the Alake; the protest was repeated 10 days later. In response to the protest, the Alake engaged in divisive tactics by promising the women positions of responsibility. On the 20th of December, the men gathered together to organise a meeting, showing their support for the women, in the name of freedom and happiness. 

The tension between the AWU and the authorities increased in February 1948, when the Alake tagged the women as "vipers that could not be tamed" and banned Funmilayo from entering the Palace for political meetings. The women reacted by blocking the Palace entrance and refused to let the visiting British District officer leave. Funmilayo even went as far as taking hold of the steering wheel of the district officer's car, until he pried her hand loose. 

The Alake stalled until January 1949, hoping the women would give up, instead, they waxed stronger and put more pressure on him. When the pressure became too much, he temporarily resigned from his throne and ran into exile. 

She was known as the mother of Nigeria

Funmilayo was the only woman on the delegation sent to London, England, in 1947 by the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons party (NCNC) to propose the Nigerian constitution. Whilst she was there, she gave speeches at the London Women's Parliamentary Committee, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, and other organisations and became hugely reputable to the British public and media. She even had articles published in the Daily Worker newspaper, in which she argued that colonial rule had “thoroughly rendered” Nigerian women insignificant both politically and economically, thereby causing a commotion. Afterwards, she received an invitation from the Mayor of Manchester to talk about the conditions of women in Nigeria.

In the early 1950s, Funmilayo was ordained to the Western House of Chiefs and granted the chieftaincy title of Oloye of the Yoruba people. She was the first woman appointed to the Western House and one of the few women to be assigned a position in any Nigerian House of Chiefs at the time. She also served as a board member for the Nigerian Union of Teachers.

She passed away tragically

It's no news that Funmilayo was the mother of the Nigerian legendary musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Asides from being famous for his style of music, he was also very vocal about the bad leadership in Nigeria, which he particularly voiced through his music. Due to his outspokenness, Fela had been arrested, briefly imprisoned, and had his home raided several times in the early 1970s. To further express his disgust for the corrupt Nigerian authorities, he named his home "The Kalakuta Republic'' and re-designed it into a commune where people could freely gather without being afraid of the corrupt Nigerian military authorities. In November 1974, the Nigerian police ransacked his nightclub in town with axes and tear gas, leaving Fela with injuries. Fela released his "Zombie'' album in 1976. In the album, he compared the Nigerian army to asinines, this led many to believe that it was the breaking point in the discord between Fela and the Nigerian government. 

In a fit of merciless, rage-filled retaliation, close to 1,000 armed soldiers stormed and surrounded Fela's house. Unfortunately, Funmilayo was visiting her son at that time. The armed soldiers broke into his home, destroyed properties, assaulted the residents including Fela himself and his brother Bekolari. Funmilayo was assaulted as well and thrown from a second floor window, she was 76 years old. She was hospitalised after the incident, although she made it back home, she however, relapsed into a coma and eventually passed away on the 13th of April 1978 as a result of her injuries. 

She was buried in Abeokuta in the same vault as her husbands' Israel Oludotun Kuti

Thousands of people attended her funeral service. Numerous market women shut down their shops across the country to mourn her passing. The news of her death spread across many news outlets and she was praised for being a visionary and a progressive revolutionary.

Sources;

http://www.africanfeministforum.com/funmilayo-ransome-kuti-nigeria/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426042-500-50-things-to-do-before-you-leave-university/

https://shcas.shnu.edu.cn/_upload/article/files/de/94/931b0247425ba03333178c9595d2/de98fbe8-46c3-487e-b684-9d5ba3760418.pdf