Meet the first African woman graduate of the University of Oxford

General News on Thursday, March 14, 2019

Source: face2faceafrica.com

2019-03-14

Lady Ademola, as it is popularly called, was born on May 21, 1913, as Oloori Kofoworla nee Moore in the Egba Yoruba Royal Family of West Nigeria.

His father, Omoba Eric Olawolu Moore, was a prominent lawyer who had married African-American returnee Aida Arabella, a descendant of Scipio Vaughan, a former slave and artist who had encouraged her children to return to Africa and to be well-known personalities, rather than to work hard once slave their parents.

The birth of Lady Ademola in a rich home gave her access to quality education and education. After spending her very first years in Nigeria, she was brought to live and go to school in the United Kingdom and the United States, where her father thought that she would get the best out of the country. 39 education that would make her a great woman in society one day rather than getting married in a rich home. and become just a woman.

Lady Ademola attended Vbadar College in New York, then was taught at Potway College in Reading, UK, and then at St Hugh's College in Oxford. By 1935 she had developed a keen interest in English, literature and education. Her excellent academic performance earned her to be admitted to Oxford University, where she graduated in Education and English at the age of 22. This made her the first black African woman to graduate from Oxford University.

Lady Ademola is also celebrated for writing a short autobiography that boldly portrays the challenges blacks face in a white world, exemplifying their lives. The 21-page document challenged British stereotypes about Africans who needed to change for the benefit of future generations of blacks in a Western environment. She wrote the paper while she was studying at the University of Oxford. At Oxford University, she became a very close friend of the British lady historian Margery Freda Perham, known to be one of the pioneers of African studies in the United Kingdom.

Lady Ademola is also celebrated for writing a short autobiography that boldly portrays the challenges blacks face in a white world, exemplifying their lives. The 21-page document challenged British stereotypes about Africans who needed to change for the benefit of future generations of blacks in a Western environment. She wrote the paper while she was studying at the University of Oxford. At Oxford University, she became a very close friend of the British lady historian Margery Freda Perham, known to be one of the pioneers of African studies in the United Kingdom.

She then moved to Ibadan with her family and was elected president of the National Council of Women's Associations in 1958, where she fought for women's rights and representation in Nigeria.

Despite her many tasks: raising five children, teaching and running the women's council, Lady Ademola still had time to do many other things. She helped establish two girls 'schools, New Age High School for Girls and Girls' High School, both in Lagos, so that more girls could go to school. She has also been appointed Secretary of the Western Region Scholarship Board and Director of the Board of Directors of United Bank for Africa.

In her spare time, Lady Ademola wrote children's books that she later published to encourage reading in the country.

Lady Ademola was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 1959 and was also appointed a member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She died on May 15, 2002 at the age of 88 years.