Kofoworola, Lady Ademola | |
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| Born | Kofoworola Aina Moore 21 May 1913 Lagos, Nigeria |
| Died | 15 May 2002(2002-05-15) (aged 88) |
| Alma mater | CMS Girls School, Lagos,Vassar College,St Hugh's College, Oxford University |
| Occupations | Educator, writer |
| Known for | being the firstblackAfrican woman graduate ofOxford University, women's education in Nigeria. |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 5[1] |
| Relatives | Oyinkan, Lady Abayomi (cousin) OmobaAyo Vaughan-Richards (first cousin once removed) OlooriCharlotte Obasa (aunt) |
OlooriKofoworola Aina, Lady AdemolalistenⓘMBE,MFR, OFR (néeMoore; 21 May 1913 – 15 May 2002) was aNigerian educationist.[2] A writer and advocate for women'seducation and also the president[3] of theNational Council of Women's Societies in Nigeria, she was the head of the women's organization from 1958 to 1964.[4] Ademola was the firstblackAfrican woman to earn a degree fromOxford University,[5][2] studying atSt Hugh's College, and also an author of children's books.[6]
She was the first president of the National Council of Women's Societies in Nigeria, the firstNigerian graduate teacher in Queen's College, the first female member and later chairperson of the Board of Trustees of theUnited Bank for Africa, and a member of the Nigerian Scholarship Board.[7]
Kofo Ademola was born on May 21, 1913, to the family of the Lagos lawyerOmoba Eric Olawolu Moore, a member of anEgba royal family who was educated at Lagos Grammar School,Sierra Leone Grammar School andMonkton Combe School in England,[8] and his wife Aida Arabella (née Vaughan), who herself belonged toa family that was descended fromScipio Vaughan (through whom she also hadNative American ancestry).[9][10] She was a first cousin ofOyinkan, Lady Abayomi, a first cousin once removed of OmobaAyo Vaughan-Richards, and a niece of OlooriCharlotte Obasa.[11][12] She spent half of her young life in Lagos and the other half in the U.K.[13] Ademola was educated at C.M.S. Girls School, Lagos;Vassar College, New York;[14] and Portway College,Reading. From 1931 to 1935 she studied atSt Hugh's College, Oxford, where she earned a degree in education and English. Whilst atSt Hugh's she wrote a 21-page autobiography at the insistence ofMargery Perham to challenge British stereotypes about Africans, she wrote of her childhood as a mixture of western cultural orientation and African orientation.[13]
She did not report overt racism while in Britain, but expressed annoyance at "being regarded as a 'curio' or some weird specimen of Nature’s product, not as an ordinary human being" and at "ineffectual remarks about our 'amazing cleverness' at being able to speak English and at being able to wear English clothes".[15] Ademola returned to Nigeria in 1935 and took up appointment as a teacher at Queens College. While in Lagos she participated in some women organizations such asYWCA.
In 1939, she marriedAdetokunbo Ademola, a civil servant. They had five children.[1] As the wife of a Yoruba prince, she was entitled to the style ofOloori - and as the daughter of one, she was herself anOmoba as well - but due to the fact that her husband was also a knight, it is as Lady Ademola that she was best known.
Her husband's work took the family to Warri and later to Ibadan, and Ademola established links with the women's organizations in both towns.[16]
An authorized biography of Kofoworola Aina Ademola, Gbemi Rosiji'sPortrait of a Pioneer, waspublished in 1996.[17]
While inWarri with her husband, Ademola was a member of a women's literary circle and was a teacher at Warri College. When she moved to Ibadan, she began to cultivate friendship withElizabeth Adekogbe of the Council of Nigerian Women andTanimowo Ogunlesi of the Women's Improvement Society. She was a member of the latter and was a bridge linking both organizations and a few others to form a collective organization.[18] In 1958, when the National Council of Women Societies was formed she was chosen as the first president. As president, she became a board member of the International Council of Women. Ademola was a teacher, educator, director of the board of trustees of the United Bank for Africa, secretary of the Western RegionScholarship Board and she co-founded two schools: the Girls Secondary Modern School in Lagos and New Era Girls' Secondary School, Lagos.[19]
Ademola also wrote children's books, many of them based on West African folklore, includingGreedy Wife and the Magic Spoon,Ojeje Trader and the Magic Pebbles,Tutu and the Magic Gourds, andTortoise and the Clever Ant, all part of the "Mudhut Book" series.[20]
She was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire in 1959, receiving the award fromQueen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.[6]Abubakar Tafawa Balewa's government awarded her the honor of membership of theOrder of the Federal Republic.[6]
Lady Ademola also held thechieftaincy titles of theMojibade of Ake and theLika of Ijemo.[21]
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