Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

Episode 4: Vengeance of the Vagina Head

Release Date: October 22, 2025
Host: Jad Abumrad
Notable Guests: Wole Soyinka, Cheryl Johnson Odom, Judith Byfield, Akila Bishokumbi, Mrs. Ode Dieron

Overview

This episode delves into the roots of Fela Kuti’s political awakening by probing the life and activism of his mother, Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti. Rather than centering on Fela himself, the narrative focuses on a pivotal but underappreciated chapter in Nigerian—and indeed African—political history: how a movement of market women, led by Fumilayo, confronted British colonial power, toppled a king, and inspired a new template for collective action. Through archival discoveries, family recollections, and rich storytelling, this episode explores the multi-generational transmission of resistance and the immense symbolic power women wielded in Nigeria’s colonial past.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Mystery of Fela’s Political Roots

• The challenge: Fela Kuti left little personal explanation for his fearless belief in music’s power as political tool, posing a challenge for biographers and historians.
• The Insight: Understanding Fela’s motivations requires understanding his mother—her philosophy, activism, and worldview.
  • Jad Abumrad [00:39]: “Where did Fela get his belief from that insane, beautiful idea that music of all things could topple a regime?... Well, perhaps it turned on for him when he was 9, standing in a crowd, holding his mother's hand as she was about to do the impossible.”

Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti: The Archival Discovery

• Cheryl Johnson Odom’s Journey: In 1975, researcher Cheryl Johnson Odom visits Nigeria to study women in the anti-colonial struggle and discovers troves of Fumilayo’s letters, documents, and protest songs in the family’s home—which become the documentary spine of this episode.
  • Cheryl Johnson Odom [05:45]: “…Oh my God, there were letters from Nkrumah… protest, women as far as the eye can see… I have struck the gold mine here.”

The Early Days: Elites, Education, and Social Clubs

• The Ransome-Kuti family’s role as educators and community leaders in colonial Abeokuta.
• British colonialism’s creation of a Nigerian elite, and Fumilayo’s early involvement in “proper society”—culminating in the Abeokuta Ladies Club, which started as a social group for Christian women and metamorphosed into a revolutionary body.
  • Judith Byfield [13:21]: “The first organization that she creates is… an organization to teach Christian girls how to be good wives.”
  • Early activities included cookery classes, dances, and recruitment of club members.

The Spark: Literacy, Market Women, and Political Awakening

• The transformation of the Ladies Club arising from Fumilayo’s realization that market women were illiterate and unable to advocate for themselves.
• Creation of literacy classes—market women coming for lessons, then sharing harrowing stories of tax brutality.
  • Cheryl Johnson Odom [14:35]: “She said she was in church one time… there was a market woman friend of hers who was singing, but holding the hymnal upside down… she realized she couldn't read.”

The Tax Revolt: Colonial Oppression and Female Resistance

• British colonial officers, via a local king known as the Alake, begin imposing and enforcing punishing taxes on market women during World War II to fund the war effort.
• Women are fined, jailed, and publicly humiliated; colonial rule uses local intermediaries to conceal British responsibility.
  • Judith Byfield [17:47]: “The Alake, which is the king of this town.”
  • Cheryl Johnson Odom [18:14]: “Basically, the Alake is being told what to do by the British… The decision making is the British, even if it comes out of the Alake's mouth.”
• Fumilayo pivots from teaching to activism, writing letters of protest for the women.

The Formation of the Abeokuta Women’s Union

• The pivotal moment: The Ladies Club is reborn as the Abeokuta Women’s Union, open to all women regardless of class. Fumilayo abandons Victorian dress for traditional wraps.
  • Judith Byfield [27:50]: “The Abeokuta Women's Union.”
  • Cheryl Johnson Odom [28:09]: “She started only wearing Nigerian clothing. She never wore Western clothing again.”
• A mass movement of up to 20,000 women emerges, united across social lines.

Direct Action: Protest, Symbolism, and Psychological Tactics

• Tactics escalate from letter-writing to mass gatherings, strategic “picnics,” and the use of powerful symbolism:
  • The act of removing head ties (“wrappers”) and tying them around waists as a signal of defiance.
    • Wole Soyinka [31:09]: “It's like throwing down the gauntlet when a woman takes off her head Tie ties it like a sash around her waist. Men scatter.”
  • The ancient practice of “sitting on a man”—singing derisive, openly sexual songs as acts of protest and shaming.
    • Cheryl Johnson Odom [38:45]: “There is an African tradition called sitting on a man… men were scared to death of it… if a man beat a woman… they would descend in the hundreds on her house, telling her husband if he ever beat her again, they were going to deal with them.”
  • Use of protest songs with biting sexual insults directed at authorities, especially the Alake:
    • Mrs. Ode Dieron [37:58]: “[The song says] the Alake has a penis as big as a horse. However… we will emit fire from our vaginas that will wound his penis… You can't translate them literally like exactly how it is.”
  • Some women strip naked—an act of spiritual and social defiance believed to curse the target with death.
    • Judith Byfield [44:10]: “The idea is that if you see an older woman naked, that that's an abomination. And the person who is the target of this will die.”

The British Dilemma and The Fall of the Alake

• Protests escalate, the city is paralyzed, and the British are caught in a political bind: they fear creating martyrs if they crush the protest.
  • John Blair [47:17]: “We lived in a constant strain, for we never knew when the pot would boil over.”
• Eventually, the British secretly spirit the Alake and his family out of town—he abdicates “to avoid bloodshed.”
  • Alake’s Letter [48:41]: “I cannot bear any longer the sight of turmoil, strife and discontent. I have therefore decided… to leave… in the hope that… an atmosphere of calm will prevail.”
• This unprecedented victory is celebrated as a liberation and a template for future activism across Africa and the world.

The Aftermath and Legacy

• Letters flood in from women’s unions across Africa and beyond, hailing the movement as inspiration.
  • Cheryl Johnson Odom [50:03]: “She had letters in her paper from women all over the continent saying, mother, you have so inspired us.”
• The revolt’s success, by toppling a king, exposes cracks in the colonial system and helps lay the groundwork for later independence movements.
• Fumilayo’s activism is largely forgotten, overshadowed by her son Fela’s fame—but her legacy endures in new, global movements for women’s rights and political change.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Wole Soyinka [00:11/31:09]: “It's like throwing down the gauntlet when a woman takes off her head tie, ties it like a sash around her waist. Men scatter.”
• Jad Abumrad [05:58]: “There were dozens of boxes in that basement. And inside those boxes was a story that was way bigger than she imagined.”
• Cheryl Johnson Odom [28:09]: “She started only wearing Nigerian clothing. She never wore Western clothing again.”
• Judith Byfield [27:50]: “The Abeokuta Women's Union.”
• Cheryl Johnson Odom [38:45]: “There is an African tradition called sitting on a man… men were scared to death of it.”
• Judith Byfield [44:10]: “The idea is that if you see an older woman naked, that that's an abomination. And the person who is the target of this will die.”
• Alake’s Resignation [48:41]: “I cannot bear any longer the sight of turmoil, strife and discontent. I have therefore decided… to leave… in the hope that… an atmosphere of calm will prevail.”
• Cheryl Johnson Odom [50:03]: “She had letters in her paper from women all over the continent saying, mother, you have so inspired us.”
• Judith Byfield [51:46]: “She became reduced to Fela's mother. And so even when I would give talks in Nigeria, people would be surprised at all the stuff that I bring out, because her activism has just really been forgotten.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:39] — Introduction to Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s mother, and her political roots
• [05:45] — Cheryl’s archival discovery: “I have struck the gold mine here”
• [13:21] — Shift from social club to activism
• [17:47] — Colonial indirect rule explained
• [22:04] — Taxation crisis and market women’s grievances
• [27:50] — Birth of the Abeokuta Women’s Union
• [30:36-31:09] — Protest: removing wrappers/head-ties as signal for action
• [38:45] — “Sitting on a man”: protest songs and shaming
• [43:50-44:10] — Women strip naked as spiritual act of resistance
• [47:17] — Colonial officer on “constant strain”
• [48:41] — Alake abdicates the throne after women’s victory
• [50:03] — Letters of inspiration flood in from around the globe
• [51:02] — Legacy of the movement and impact on broader political change

Flow & Tone

The episode blends oral history, personal recollection, archival research, and music to draw a vivid picture of female collective action against colonial and patriarchal systems. The mood moves effortlessly from reverent admiration to lively humor (especially in describing protest songs and tactics) to a sense of awe at the scale and audacity of the movement. The speakers’ voices—whether incredulous, inspired, or simply matter-of-fact—underscore the radical power and urgency of the events recounted.

Conclusion

“Vengeance of the Vagina Head” frames Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti as a foundational influence on Fela Kuti and as a monumental figure in African political history in her own right. By centering the women's tax revolt in Abeokuta, the episode powerfully illustrates how creative forms of protest, solidarity, and symbolic resistance can reshape power structures—and how vital women’s leadership has been, and continues to be, in struggles for freedom and justice.

End of summary.