The Igbo Women's Revolt
Feb. 13th, 2008 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unusualmusic_lj_archiveWith thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
delux_vivens who started the orginal thread that this tidbit of info appeared on and skywardprodigal for reminding me of it just now.
I haven't really done anything at all for Black History Month, have I?
Try this on for size:
Ganked from The Igbo Women's Revolt
In November, 1929, thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District of Nigeria, the nearby Umuahia, Ngwa, and other places in southern Nigeria traveled to Oloko to protest against the Warrant Chiefs, who they accused of restricting the role of women in the government; this incident become known as the Igbo Women's War of 1929 (or "Ogu Ndem," Women's War, in Igbo). It was organized and led by rural women of Owerri and Calabar Provinces. During the events, many Warrant Chiefs were forced to resign and sixteen Native Courts were attacked, most of which were destroyed or burned down.[1]
Events and causes
The Women's revolt of 1929 was sparked by a dispute between a woman named Nwanyeruwa and a man, Mark Emereuwa, who was helping to make a census of the people living in the town controlled by the Warrant, Okugo. Nwanyeruwa was of Ngwa ancestry, and had been married in the town of Oloko. In Oloko, census was related to taxation, and women in the area were worried about who would tax them, especially during the period of hyperinflation in the late 1920s.
On the morning of November 18, Emeruwa arrived at Nwanyereuwa's house, and approached Nwanyereuwa, since her husband Ojim had already died. He told the widow to "count her goats, sheep and people." Since Nwanyereuwa understood this to mean, "How many of these things do you have so we can tax you based on them", she was angry. She replied by saying "Was your widowed mother counted?," meaning "that women don't pay tax in traditional Igbo society."[2] The two exchanged angry words, and Nwanyeruwa went to the town square to discuss the incident with other women who happened to be holding a meeting to discuss the issue of taxation of women. Believing they would be taxed, based on Nwanyeruwa's account, the Oloko women invited women (by sending leaves of palm-oil trees) from other areas in the Bende District, as well as from Umuahia, Ngwa and elsewhere. They soon gathered nearly 10,000 women who protested at the office of Warrant Chief Okugo, demanding his resignation and calling for a trial.
Read more :The Igbo Women's Revolt
delux_vivens who started the orginal thread that this tidbit of info appeared on and skywardprodigal for reminding me of it just now.I haven't really done anything at all for Black History Month, have I?
Try this on for size:
Ganked from The Igbo Women's Revolt
In November, 1929, thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District of Nigeria, the nearby Umuahia, Ngwa, and other places in southern Nigeria traveled to Oloko to protest against the Warrant Chiefs, who they accused of restricting the role of women in the government; this incident become known as the Igbo Women's War of 1929 (or "Ogu Ndem," Women's War, in Igbo). It was organized and led by rural women of Owerri and Calabar Provinces. During the events, many Warrant Chiefs were forced to resign and sixteen Native Courts were attacked, most of which were destroyed or burned down.[1]
Events and causes
The Women's revolt of 1929 was sparked by a dispute between a woman named Nwanyeruwa and a man, Mark Emereuwa, who was helping to make a census of the people living in the town controlled by the Warrant, Okugo. Nwanyeruwa was of Ngwa ancestry, and had been married in the town of Oloko. In Oloko, census was related to taxation, and women in the area were worried about who would tax them, especially during the period of hyperinflation in the late 1920s.
On the morning of November 18, Emeruwa arrived at Nwanyereuwa's house, and approached Nwanyereuwa, since her husband Ojim had already died. He told the widow to "count her goats, sheep and people." Since Nwanyereuwa understood this to mean, "How many of these things do you have so we can tax you based on them", she was angry. She replied by saying "Was your widowed mother counted?," meaning "that women don't pay tax in traditional Igbo society."[2] The two exchanged angry words, and Nwanyeruwa went to the town square to discuss the incident with other women who happened to be holding a meeting to discuss the issue of taxation of women. Believing they would be taxed, based on Nwanyeruwa's account, the Oloko women invited women (by sending leaves of palm-oil trees) from other areas in the Bende District, as well as from Umuahia, Ngwa and elsewhere. They soon gathered nearly 10,000 women who protested at the office of Warrant Chief Okugo, demanding his resignation and calling for a trial.
Read more :The Igbo Women's Revolt
