Funmilayo Ransome Kuti , the celebrated women`s right activist, Suffragist and the mother of the King of Afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (25 October 1900 Abeokuta, Nigeria - 13 April 1978 Lagos, Nigeria) popularly known as FRK was a celebrated women`s right activist of her time. This hard core lady, prolific woman nationalist and representative of the feminist cause in her country and internationally started her powerful fight for suffrage and equal rights for her countrywomen long before the second wave of the women's movement in the United States. She was also a teacher, political campaigner, and traditional aristocrat. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation. Mrs Ransome-Kuti was the first woman in Nigeria to drive car.
As a result of her unique political activism, Ransome-Kuti has been described as "the doyen of female rights in Nigeria." Others regard her as "The Mother of Africa." 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. It must be emphasized here that Kuti`s heritage can be traced back to her great grandmother Sarah Taiwo, also known as the ‘Lioness of Lisabi’, a title stemming from her escape from slavery and an assertiveness with which she influenced her community in Abeokuta in western Nigeria.
Given this background it was perhaps a natural evolution that Kuti herself would develop into an activist whose life circled around the struggle for suffrage and equal rights for women.
Kuti was the mother of the world`s celebrated musician, King of Afrobeats and political activists Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Beko Ransome-Kuti, a renowned medical practitioner, and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a doctor and a former health minister of Nigeria. She was also grandmother to ace musicians Seun Kuti and Femi Kuti.
