More than the first woman to drive a car: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Announcing Perimeter Base, a robust library of African Women’s history.

More than the first woman to drive a car: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

The only things schools teach us about Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti are:  

1. She was the first woman to drive a car, or; 

2. Fela Kuti’s mother

BUT she was more, much much more. 

Ransome-Kuti — nationalist, suffragist, educationist —  led mass protests, forced a king into exile and fought for the voting rights of women in colonial Nigeria. So why is she not remembered as much as her male counterparts? Similarly, why do we only remember Nelson Mandela but forget Winnie Mandela? Why also do we pay tribute to the men who fought during the Italo-Ethiopian war (1935 - 1941), but ignore the women soldiers?

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📌 Read more: Remembering Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti: Nigeria’s ‘lioness of Lisabi’ | Women's Rights | Al Jazeera

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If history is the study of significant past events, then at the moment, the definition of significance is male and we need balance. 

Thankfully, there are historians, journalists, researchers, and filmmakers attempting to bridge this disparity. I am building, Perimeter Base, a library of African women’s history to ensure that their efforts and the stories of the women they choose to document are not forgotten.

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📌 Read more: Women in the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935 - 1941) | 03.2021 – Project3541

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Out of the Perimeter, into the mainstream

Perimeter — “the outer limits of an area”,  “the sum of the distance of all the lengths of the sides or an object” or “an instrument for measuring the extent and characteristics of a person's field of vision” — refers to the marginal and invisible role of African women’s history. The core of Perimeter Base lies in its power to bring the forgotten historical events about African women to the fore, thereby challenging the stereotype that women are less deserving of equality, equity, or however you want to frame it, because “they did not do anything significant in the past”.

But what’s the point? 

Here’s an early-stage, scrappy concept ↗️ with limited functionality I’ve put together to test the idea.

• Think of it as a Google for all kinds of sources beyond academic materials — videos, books, articles, magazines, podcasts, papers, think pieces, photographs — about the history of African women in music, politics, fashion, technology, sports, you name it and even contemporary history. We have to document these sources one way or the other. 

• With this, I want to build a community of people documenting the history of African women, regardless of how they choose to document it, and hopefully, in the long run, increase their visibility. 

Everything about it — the concept, the name, the logo — is still early and scrappy. However, it is a snippet of what is to come. 

I’m not sure how this will go in the long run but it is something I’ve always wanted to do since my third year as a history student at the University of Ilorin. I’m going to experiment, break things, talk about it,  rebuild, talk about it some more and hopefully, along the way meet people who share the same passion.  

If you want to receive updates about my progress or collaborate with me, join the waitlist ↗️!