Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Nigerian suffragist who organized women against colonial taxation

The 'Lioness of Lisabi' (1900-1978) mobilized market women against British indirect rule. Her Abeokuta Women's Union (1946) successfully:

• Overturned the taxation system targeting female traders
• Forced the Alake (local ruler) into exile
• Founded Nigeria's first adult education program for women

As the first Nigerian woman to drive a car and visit 10 Downing Street, Ransome-Kuti combined traditional Yoruba organizing with modern activism. Her 1947 London protest influenced the Richards Constitution reforms. Though later excommunicated for radicalism, she pioneered intersectional feminism in West Africa.