Know who
is Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, to whom Google has dedicated today’s doodle.
Google has
dedicated today’s doodle to Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, MON,
otherwise known as Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, was a teacher, political
campaigner, women’s rights activist and traditional aristocrat in Nigeria. She
served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation.
Doodle4Google : Kuti fearlessly campaigned for women’s rights
Kuti, the
Nigerian educator and activist who fearlessly campaigned for women’s rights and
the liberation of Africa from colonial rule. She was one of the first
women to attend Abeokuta Grammar School in 1914, where she would go on to
teach.
Chief
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was leading activist during Nigerian women’s
anti-colonial struggles.
Born on this
day in 1900 in Abeokuta, the current capital of
Nigeria’s Ogun state, the former Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas grew up
witnessing Great Britain consolidating control over Nigeria. As the grandchild
of a slave, she became one of the first girls to enroll in Abeokuta Grammar
School, before traveling to Cheshire in England to continue her education. By
the time she returned home, she’d dropped her birth names and preferred to
speak Yoruba.
She
founded the Abeokuta Women’s Union
In 1932, Ransome-Kuti established the Abeokuta Ladies Club
(ALC), fostering unity between educated women and poor market workers and
setting up the first adult education programs for Nigerian women. Renamed the
Abeokuta Women’s Union in 1946, the
organization boasted a membership of some 20,000 and pushed for healthcare, social services, and economic
opportunity. Imprisoned in 1947 for
protesting against unfair treatment towards women, Ransome-Kuti and her
followers also led the charge to abdicate a corrupt local leader.
First Nigerian
woman to drive a car
A
trailblazer in many ways, Ransome-Kuti was also the first Nigerian woman to
drive a car. She was also the only woman in Nigeria’s 1947 delegation to London, which lodged a protest and set the
nation on the path toward self-government. As one of the few women elected to
Nigeria’s house of chiefs, she was recognized for her advocacy work on behalf
of women’s rights and education, and revered as the “Lioness of Lisabi”
and the “Mother of Africa.”
Her daughter—Dolupo—and three sons—Beko, Olikoye, and Fela—likewise became leaders in education, healthcare, and music, continuing their mother’s legacy of activism and advocacy.
Today’s google doodle
Today’s
Doodle, illustrated by Nigerian-Italian guest artist Diana Ejaita, celebrates a
formidable leader who founded what many refer to as one of the most important
social movements of the twentieth century.
