When we think about the countless women writers today, it is hard not to wonder who the first woman to boldly pick up a pen, share her stories, and become known as a writer was? Who was that woman who refused to be silenced, even when society may have tried to stifle her voice?
She was thrown off the balcony of Kalakuta. Her frail seventy-seven years old body hit the ground with a force that would ripple through history. The year was 1977, and the Nigerian military had invaded Kalakuta, the communal compound owned by her son, Fela Kuti. They were looking to silence dissent. But in that act of violence, they only amplified the story of a woman who had spent her entire life resisting oppression. Her name was Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
Biases are intrinsically part of human nature. Our brains are lazy; we act on previously gathered information to make decisions rather than processing new information and making peculiar and unique choices. What we see growing up, what we hear, what is obtainable in our immediate environment;
