James Kase
Google Celebrates Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti 119th Birthday With Doodle : Google Doodle, on Friday celebrate a teacher, political campaigner, women‘s rights activist and traditional aristocrat in Nigeria birthday, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
MEDIANGR learns that Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepages, intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures.
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.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was also the first woman in the country to drive a car.
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Brief History of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas was born on 25 October 1900, in Abeokuta, to Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas (1869-1954) and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu (1874-1956) of the Jibolu-Taiwo family.
Born as Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas, she was the first female student at the Abeokuta Grammar School (a secondary school), which she attended from 1914 to 1917.
Kuti was the mother of the Nigerian activists Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a musician; Beko Ransome-Kuti, a doctor; and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a doctor and health minister. She was also grandmother to musicians Seun Kuti and Femi Kuti. She is highly regarded in her native Nigeria for notable acts as an African woman.
Ransome-Kuti received the national honour of membership in the Order of the Niger in 1965. The University of Ibadan bestowed upon her the honorary doctorate of laws in 1968.
Death of Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, MON
In 1978 Ransome-Kuti was thrown from a third-floor window in her son Fela‘s compound, a commune known as the Kalakuta Republic, when it was stormed by one thousand armed military personnel. She lapsed into a coma in February of that year, and died on 13 April 1978 as a result of her injuries.
After Ransome-Kuti’s death, Fela took her coffin and travelled nearly twenty kilometers to Dodan Barracks in Lagos (then Nigeria‘s Supreme Military Headquarters), leaving the coffin at the gate in an attempt to shame the government.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Achievements
- The Icon, during her life on earth achieved so many prominent awards. Some of these are listed below.
- Took part in the pre-independence conferences that laid the groundwork for Nigeria‘s First Republic
- One of the women appointed to the native House of Chiefs, serving as an Oloye of the Yoruba people
- Ranking member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
- Treasurer and President Western Women Association of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
- President of the Abeokuta Women‘s Union from 1946–1978.
- Leader of Commoners Peoples Party
- Leader of Nigeria Women‘s Union.
- First woman to drive a car in Nigeria
- Winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1970
Final Words on Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti 119th Birthday
The entire team of MEDIANGR as our core value remains, we join the entire Nigerians especially the immediate family members to celebrate a mother, an ICON, a true activist, a teacher and traditional aristocrat in Nigeria.
Rest on “MON”. You were truly an inspiration.
Kindly share this article to reach more women, children, ladies, dads and to your social timelines. Celebrate!!!
