Oyinkansola Abayomi

Oyinkansola Abayomi

Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi
Born Oyinkansola Ajasa
(1897-03-06)6 March 1897[1]
Lagos, Nigeria (then Lagos Colony in the British Empire)[1]
Died 19 March 1990(1990-03-19) (aged 93)[1]
Lagos, Nigeria[1]
Nationality Nigerian
Other names Oyinkan
Occupation Feminist, Educator, Scouting guide
Known for Girl Guides

Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi (also known as Oyinkan) (6 March 1897 – 19 March 1990) was a Nigerian nationalist and feminist. She is the former head of the Nigerian Girl Guides and founder of the Nigerian Women's Party.

Early life and education

Oyinkansola Abayomi (born Oyinkansola Ajasa) was born in Nigeria in 1897.[2] She was nicknamed Oyinkan, by her family. She had a younger brother, Akuisola. He died when he was two.[1] Her father was Kitoye Ajasa and her mother was Oyinkan Bartholomew.[3] She went to school at the Anglican Girls' Seminary in Lagos. She graduated in 1909. She then went to school at the Young Ladies Academy at Ryford Hall, located in Gloucestershire, England. She joined the Girl Guides. In 1917 she attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. She moved back to Lagos in 1920. She became a music teacher at the Anglican Girls' Seminary. It was during this time when she met at lawyer named Moronfolu Abayomi. They married in August 1923. He would be assassinated in court two months later.[1]

Life and work in Nigeria

While in England, Abayomi had joined the Girl Guides. When she returned to Nigeria, she connected with the local Lagos Nigerian Girl Guides Association, which was founded by an English woman. Abayomi joined the group and was the first Nigerian woman to serve as a supervisor. She also became active in the education of women and girls in Nigeria, which was not equal to that of men and boys. She joined the Lagos Women's Organization.[1] She did fundraising and promoting for Queen's College through the West African Educated Girls' Club, an organization she founded.[1][3][2] It opened in 1927. She was a founding teacher at the school. She was the only Nigerian to work there.[1] Around this time she became one of the first women in Lagos to drive a car.[3]

Abayomi remarried in 1930, marrying Kofo Abayomi. In 1931 the Girl Guides was recognized and given support by the Nigerian government. Abayomi became the chief commissioner for the Girl Guides.[1] She joined the Nigerian Youth Movement in 1935. She wrote an article in the organization's journal that year, demanding that wealthy women of Nigeria needed to fight for women's rights and willing to work with women of middle and lower classes for those rights.[3] On May 10, 1944 she founded the Nigerian Women's Party, at a meeting at her home with twelve women.[3] The organization sought equal rights for women. When Kofo Abayomi was knighted in 1954, Abayomi became known as Lady Oyinkan.[1]

Later life and death

Kofo Abayomi died on 1 January 1979. Abayomi retired from the Girl Guides in 1982. She was named Life President of the Girl Guides for her work. She was honored with five Nigerian chieftaincy titles including that of the Iya Abiye of Egbaland. She died in 1990.[1]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Martin, Christa (2002). Abayomi, Oyinkansola (1897–1990). Farmington Hills: Gale Research, Inc.(subscription required)
  2. 1 2 Bonnie G. Smith (2008). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-195-1489-09.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ruth Roach Pierson; Nupur Chaudhuri; Beth McAuley (1998). Nation, Empire, Colony: Historicizing Gender and Race. Indiana University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-0-253-21191-0. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
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