Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Nigerian Women's Rights Activist

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (nee. Frances Abigail Olufunmiayo Olufela Folorunso Thomas ) and as Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti . She was born In Abeokula, Southern Nigeria.

She was the daughter of Chief Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas,a farmer and a member pf the aristocratic Jibolu-Taiwo family. She was the first female to attend Abeokula Grammar School. She then attended a finishing school in England.

She returned to Nigeria to marry the notable educator Israel Ransome-Kuti. They had a loving relationship and were married for 30 years.

As a young adult she worked as a teacher, organizing some of the first preschool classes in the country and arranging literacy classes for lower income women.

In 1940’s established the Abeokuta Women’s Union.

She led marches and protests of up to 10,000 women. She became known as the Lioness of Lisabi. In 1949 forced Alake to temporary abdicate.

Both before and after Nigeria’s independence (1960) she remained a political force.

On 13th April 1978 she lost her life when she was mortally wounded during a military raid on her dissident son’s Fela family property.

She has been named as a strong influence on a number of activists.

No other Nigerian woman of her time ranked as such a national figure or had such international exposure ans connections .
Cheyl Johnson-Odim (biographer)
Sources
Wikipedia
RISE by Maliha Abidi