1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Not too 4 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: long ago, when I was researching our episode on tear gas, 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: the book tear Gas From the Battlefields of World War 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: One to the Streets of Today mentioned a women's uprising 7 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: in colonial Nigeria, with British authorities requesting tear gas in 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: response to that uprising. This mention in the book was 9 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: really brief, just a paragraph in the context of that 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: entire text, and it cited a memo that read, in 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: part quote, recently in Nigeria, a hostile mob was composed 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,639 Speaker 1: largely of women, and the local troops showed the greatest 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: dislike in firing on the crowd when that course became inevitable. 14 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: And then that paragraph ended on the note that this 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,040 Speaker 1: was part of what came to be known as a 16 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: women's war. So that memo was just so evocative to me, like, 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: who were these women and why was firing on them inevitable? 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: In the words of the memo, the women's war, which 19 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: happened at the end of immediately went on my list 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: for an episode, and that is where we are today. 21 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: So the Women's War was a response to multiple aspects 22 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: of British colonialism, which were made worse by British authorities 23 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: total lack of understanding about how the societies in what 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: is now southeastern Nigeria actually functioned. Nigeria was and is 25 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: incredibly diverse. It's home to more than two hundred fifty 26 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: different ethnic groups and five hundred languages, with those languages 27 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: falling into at least three distinct linguistic groups. So in 28 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: addition to seeing everything through a British lens, colonial authorities 29 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: were also failing to recognize that the people and cultures 30 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: involved we're not at all a monolith. They also weren't 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: the same as societies the British had encountered in other 32 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: parts of Africa, or even within the different regions of 33 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: the colony they had established and named for the Niger River. 34 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: Although there were other ethnic groups involved in this as well, 35 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: most of the women involved in the Women's War were 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: Ebo or b Bo, and the vast majority of writing 37 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: about the Women's War has focused mainly or even exclusively 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,519 Speaker 1: on Ebo women. So today we're going to focus primarily 39 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: on Ebo society, which also, to be clear, was not 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: at all a monolith. To start, there are at least 41 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: thirty different Ebo dialects. By some counts it's more than fifty. 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: Some of these are mutually intelligible to one another, and 43 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,519 Speaker 1: some of them are not. Although Ebo speakers generally had 44 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: similar cultures and religious practices prior to British colonialization, they 45 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: also lived in semi autonomous communities that could vary somewhat 46 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: and how they were governed. In some regions, communities were 47 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: governed similarly to a constitutional monarchy, and in others they 48 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: were closer to a republic. Even in communities that had 49 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: similar governing structures, the details could still vary from place 50 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: to place. For example, in some communities women were part 51 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 1: of the council of elders that governed and made decisions, 52 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: while in others women had a lot of influence on 53 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: the council but did not directly hold seats. In general, 54 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:22,959 Speaker 1: though before colonization, the idea of collectivity and mutual benefit 55 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: was threaded all through Ebo societies and everything from religion 56 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: and cosmology to day to day living. Religious beliefs included 57 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: reincarnation and the idea that ancestors are still present and 58 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: still part of the community. Whole villages were part of 59 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: decision making in one way or another, and those decisions 60 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: were generally focused on the collective goods. So, for example, 61 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: a community might pool its resources to send a student 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: to a university, with the understanding that the whole village 63 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: would then benefit from that student's success. Social and political 64 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: power were decentralized, and in generall people earned that power 65 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: through their actions and behavior and how they contributed to 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: the community. Although a person's wealth, age, or family connections 67 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: could definitely play a part by themselves, they weren't typically 68 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: enough to establish someone as an authority. Disputes were solved 69 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: by mutual agreement, with a council of elders who had 70 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: earned the community's respect and trust, all coming to a consensus. 71 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: Then the rest of the community collectively participated in upholding 72 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: that group's decision. Gender also influenced all of this. In 73 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: the communities that we are focused on today, men and 74 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: women had distinct and complementary roles. Families lived together in 75 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: the husband's compound, with each wife having her own home 76 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: and her own space, and that compound. Men were responsible 77 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: for providing clothing, and food, while women were responsible for 78 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: actually preparing the meals from those ingredients. While the compounds 79 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: were considered to be men's domain, markets were more of 80 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: a space for women. There could really be some fluidity 81 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: in all of this, which is described in the book 82 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: Male Daughters, Female Husbands, Gender and Sex and African Society 83 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: that's by Nigerian anthropologists Evie Amadume. But in general, men 84 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: and women had different spheres of influence. Women also maintained 85 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: extensive networks with other women, including market networks and family connections. 86 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: All the daughters from the same lineage were part of 87 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: a network, even after they married and moved to another 88 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: household or even a different village. All the wives within 89 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: the same lineage were similarly connected, regardless of whether their 90 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: families were related outside of their marriage. So the area 91 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: north northeast of the Niger River Delta has been home 92 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: to Ebo speaking people's for thousands of years, and for 93 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: much of that time, slavery was also part of these communities. 94 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: Even though Ebo speaking people's had similar cultures and religious practices, 95 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: it really wasn't until the twentieth century that Ebo people 96 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: started to see themselves as part of one unifying cultural 97 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: and ethnic identity, regardless of which region or village they 98 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: were originally from. So prior to that, when Ebo communities 99 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: went to war with one another or with non Ebo neighbors, 100 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: they enslaved prisoners of war. People were also enslaved as 101 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: punishment for some kinds of crime and and in many 102 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: ways this system of slavery was more like indentured servitude 103 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: than shadow slavery. As it was practiced in the America's 104 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: enslaved people were still considered to be persons with at 105 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: least some rights. The Transatlantic slave trade influenced these practices dramatically, 106 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: and Ebo speakers were both participants in and victims of it. 107 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 1: Estimates very, but Ebo and neighboring Yoruba people's made up 108 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: roughly one third of all the people enslaved in Africa 109 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: and transported to the America's Ebo traders in particular, were 110 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: often middlemen capturing bill to sell or trade with people 111 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: from other African ethnic groups on the coast, who then 112 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: sold them to Europeans. This, of course, was absolutely devastating 113 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: and destabilizing to African nations and people's all over the region. 114 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,559 Speaker 1: It incentivized warfare as the European demand for slaves grew, 115 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: and it made that warfare worse as Europeans paid for 116 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: enslaved people with weapons and gunpowder. And to be clear, 117 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: although there were African people, including Ebo people, who were 118 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: benefiting from the slave trade by enslaving and selling other people, 119 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: the European powers that were involved in all this gained 120 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: far far more power and wealth than any African nation involved. 121 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: Britain outlawed the Transatlantic slave trade in eighteen o seven, 122 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: and the US banned the import of enslaved people that 123 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: same year, with the law going into effect in eighteen 124 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: o eight, but the slave trade continued long after that point, 125 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: with enslaved people being transported to nations where it was 126 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: illegal and to places, including the United States where it 127 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: was not technically legal. When Britain started colonizing what's now 128 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: Nigeria in the eighteen sixties, it had previously outlawed slavery 129 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: in its other colonies, but Britain didn't formally outlast slavery 130 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: in Nigeria until nineteen o one, and the practice continued 131 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: for decades after that. In addition to changes in social 132 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: structures and governments that will be getting to in a bit. 133 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: Nigeria in general and Ebo Lands specifically went through multiple 134 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: changes during these same decades. Palm oil became an increasingly 135 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: valued commodity. It was used for everything from soap making 136 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,440 Speaker 1: to machine lubrication. Palm Oil production long predated the British 137 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: presence in Nigeria, and palm oil grown and processed in 138 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: West Africa was already well established as an important trade 139 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: good long before any of this, but British demand for 140 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: palm oil increased ramatically during the Industrial Revolution because of 141 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: its use as a machine lubricant. The economy of Eba 142 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: Land became increasingly focused on palm oil production, generally with 143 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: men harvesting the fruit and women and children processing it 144 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: into oil. Proceeds from this industry were also divided by gender, 145 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:21,320 Speaker 1: with the men getting the oil and the women getting 146 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: the kernel. Another big change was that the first Christian 147 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: missionaries were also established in Ebo Land during the nineteenth century. 148 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: The first permanent mission there was established by the Reverend 149 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: John Christopher Taylor, who was Anglican and born to Ebo parents. 150 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: His parents had actually been enslaved in Ebo Land and 151 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: then liberated to Sierra Leone. Many of the first missionaries 152 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: to Ebo Land were also Ebo. Some of them had 153 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,959 Speaker 1: similarly been enslaved and then liberated to Sierra Leone before 154 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: making their way back home again. But over time, more 155 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: and more of the missionaries in Nigeria were white British 156 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,079 Speaker 1: people who tried to make Ebo culture conform more to 157 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: British Christian norms. We're going to talk more specifically about 158 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: Britain's colonization of Nigeria and how it led to the 159 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: Women's War after we first have a sponsor break. Britain's 160 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: colonization of Nigeria escalated during the Scramble for Africa in 161 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As we've mentioned 162 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: on the show before, over about four decades, the major 163 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: European powers basically divided up the continent of Africa among themselves. 164 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: About nine percent of the continent was under European control 165 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: by the nineteen teens. All of this was done without 166 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: the involvement of the people who were being colonized, and 167 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: without regard to the kingdoms and nations and confederations that 168 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: were already there. Britain chartered the Royal Niger Company in 169 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six, and during the Scramble for Africa, it 170 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: rapidly expanded its holdings around the Niger River valley. It 171 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: established multiple protectorates, which it started consolidating in the early 172 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: twentieth century. In the nineteen teens, two remained the Protectorate 173 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: of Northern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, which 174 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: Britain consolidated into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 175 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen. The nations and people's who were living in 176 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: all this occupied territory resisted British influence heavily, and the 177 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: British subjugation of its Nigerian colony was violent and destructive. 178 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: British forces destroyed or tried to destroy oracles and temple complexes. 179 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,640 Speaker 1: They used collective punishments in which whole communities, or their 180 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,599 Speaker 1: crops or their markets were completely destroyed as a punishment 181 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: for a perceived wrongdoing by one or more people in 182 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: that community. People who resisted were subject to length the 183 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: imprisonments or even execution. Sir Frederick Lugard was High Commissioner 184 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: of Nor then Nigeria. His wife Flora Shaw, is typically 185 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: cited as coining the name Nigeria. A few years before 186 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: their marriage, Leugard first led a campaign to violently quote 187 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: pacify northern Nigeria, and it was later under his suggestion 188 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: that the two protectorates were merged. In nineteen fourteen. Lugard 189 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: eventually became Governor General of this newly created colony. Although 190 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: Britain wanted to stay in control of Nigeria, and it 191 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: also wanted to keep France from getting any territory in 192 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: the area, it didn't actually want to spend the time 193 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: and money that would be required to govern the colony directly. 194 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: In Northern Nigeria, Legard had established what the British perceived 195 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: as a successful system of indirect rule. The British, at 196 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: least in theory, roughly replicated the system of local government 197 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: that was already in place, but with men who were 198 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: selected by the British placed into positions of power. Lugard 199 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,079 Speaker 1: tried to implement the same system of indirect rule in 200 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: Ebo Land in southeastern Nigeria. Ebo Land was divided up 201 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: into native court regions, with each region led by a 202 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: warrant Chief. The warrant chief was Ebo, but was appointed 203 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: and empowered by the British. However, this was not at 204 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: all how Ebo communities in Southeast Nigeria had been operating 205 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: before this point. Having one warrant chief was antithetical to 206 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: the decentralized communal decision making that we talked about before 207 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: the break. Plus, the native court boundaries grouped together villages 208 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: that were not previously affiliated with each other and separated 209 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: villages that were connected. In some interpretations, Lugard really did 210 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: comprehend that this was going on, but he thought Northern 211 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: Nigeria was more so called civilized and modern, and he 212 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: thought making Southern Nigeria conformed to that same system would 213 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: have a modernizing effect. So, because this system of government 214 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 1: was so vastly different from what the Ebo value you 215 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: in general, the men who accepted appointments as warrant chief 216 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: either didn't share those values or were just more interested 217 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: in gaining power by their proximity to the British. Although 218 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: there were some exceptions, generally they were not people who 219 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: had earned a position of power and respect in their communities. So, 220 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: in addition to the British having implemented a system that 221 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: was radically different from what had previously been in place, 222 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: corruption and abuse among the warrant chiefs became really widespread. 223 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: As we mentioned earlier, there was some variation in how 224 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: Ebo women were able to exercise their social and political power, 225 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: but in general, as the British established indirect rule, Ebo 226 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: women lost rights and power that they had previously had. 227 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: Since counsels of elders had been replaced by a sole 228 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: warrant chief, they lost much of their voice in community 229 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: decision making. Also, as another example, women had generally had 230 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: the right to refuse marriage proposals that they did not want, 231 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: but warrant chief started selecting wives without regard to the 232 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: women's wishes. As all of this was happening, British officials 233 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: and Christian missionaries and Ebo land were also trying to 234 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: influence Ebo cultural and sexual Moray's. For example, nudity was 235 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: common among Ebo societies, with girls and young women generally 236 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: remaining unclothed until after they had gotten married and become 237 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: pregnant for the first time, and at that point clothing 238 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: often involved a loincloth or sort of a skirt around 239 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: their their waist, and missionaries tried to move Ebo women 240 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: toward more Western standards of dress. Then as if all 241 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: of that was not already enough, men in Nigeria were 242 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: pressed into service both as soldiers and as porters. During 243 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: World War One. They served under white officers as part 244 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: of the Nigerian Regiment, which made up more than half 245 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: of the West African Frontier Force. Then came the nineteen 246 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: eighteen flu pandemic, which sickened to between fifty and eighty 247 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: percent of the population of Nigeria and killed at least 248 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: five hundred thousand people there in less than six months. 249 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: So by the early nineteen twenties, the people of southeastern 250 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: Nigeria had been through a lot. Then in October of 251 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: British officials noted reports of a miraculous birth near the 252 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: town of Atta, but they didn't really specify what that meant. 253 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: Ebo sources aren't entirely clear about it either, in part 254 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: because of nuances in the Ebo language. What is clear, though, 255 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: is that Ebo women interpreted this birth as a sign 256 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: that something was seriously out of balance and needed to 257 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: be corrected. What followed has been called the Dancing Women's 258 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: Movement or the Women's Purity Campaign. Ebo women gathered in 259 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: the markets, singing, dancing, and ritually sweeping the space they 260 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: stripped unmarried women and girls who had started adopting European 261 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: style dress. They also outlined to see reas of demands 262 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: that were meant to restore gender roles to what they 263 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: had been before British colonization, including making dowry negotiations more 264 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: transparent and honest, and restoring dowry amounts to their earlier 265 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: levels because they had risen so much by that point 266 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,680 Speaker 1: that many people could no longer afford to pay them. 267 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: Other demands focused on things like reopening old roads and 268 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: observing old customs. British officials really did not understand at 269 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:31,400 Speaker 1: all what was happening here. They interpreted the symbolic sweeping 270 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: of the markets and a focus on sanitation as being 271 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: only about literal cleanliness and hygiene, and they also interpreted 272 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: the women's focus on purity as being somehow about sex work. 273 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: The list of demands did include one that was related 274 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: to sex work, but like that was one thing out 275 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: of a list of like twenty five demands. But from 276 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,160 Speaker 1: the EBO women's perspective, it really seems to have been 277 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: more about restoring order and balance at a social, spiritual, 278 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: and religious level, and writing the imbalance that had led 279 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: to this miraculous birth and basically protecting and preserving women's fertility. 280 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: Many historians have interpreted this campaign as sort of a 281 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: prelude to the Women's War, women re establishing their market 282 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: and kinship networks and using those networks to reassert their 283 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: own agency and try to reclaim some of the power 284 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 1: they'd lost over the previous decades. But British authorities mostly 285 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: regarded it as an incomprehensible disruption based on their reaction 286 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: to the Women's War a few years later, which they 287 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: described as completely unprecedented. It seems just so they pretty 288 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: quickly forgot about it. We'll have some more after a 289 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. During his time as Nigeria's first colonial governor, 290 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: Sir Frederick Legarde thought taxation could serve as a means 291 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: to organize and quote civilized the people. If you had 292 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: to pay a tax, you would also have to work 293 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: to do it, and you could really only do that 294 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: as part of a purportedly modern economic system. So to 295 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 1: that end, there was a census conducted in Ebo Land, 296 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: followed by a head tax of about five shillings a 297 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: person that was levied on men in so much about 298 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,919 Speaker 1: this was totally foreign to the Ebo speaking peoples of 299 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: southeastern Nigeria, as well as other people's living in the 300 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: affected region. The idea of counting people was deeply taboo 301 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:39,199 Speaker 1: from a religious and cultural perspective. Human beings were not 302 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,680 Speaker 1: objects to be counted, and drawing attention to how many 303 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,880 Speaker 1: people there were or how large a person's lineage had 304 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: grown ran the risk of attracting malevolent forces. Additionally, Ebo 305 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: languages didn't really have a word or even a completely 306 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: comparable concept for taxation. The closest thing was basically ransome, 307 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: so in addition to the financial hardship of suddenly having 308 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: to pay this tax, people felt like they were having 309 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: to pay a ransom on themselves. British authorities had also 310 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: proposed attacks on the land, and this was a similarly 311 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: foreign concept, because how could a person whose family had 312 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: been custodian of this land have to pay a totally 313 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: different person a fee for it. There was also the 314 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: issue of the money itself. British authorities would accept only 315 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: British currency, which most of the local people did not 316 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: have access to and we're not using in their own lives. 317 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: One of the demands of the women's purity campaign had 318 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,679 Speaker 1: even been to get rid of British currency entirely. Local 319 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: currencies included things like cowries and brass rods, But even 320 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: if the men had the equivalent of five shillings, most 321 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: had no way to exchange any of that for British currency, 322 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: and the reality was that many men didn't have the money, 323 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,080 Speaker 1: so their wives had to help make up the difference. 324 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: This got worse after the Great Depression and other factors 325 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,919 Speaker 1: led palm oil prices to drop while the amount of 326 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: tax stayed the same. So Captain John Cook, who was 327 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 1: stationed in Bende while filling in for a district officer 328 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,119 Speaker 1: who was on leave, decided to redo that district census 329 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: in October of nineteen nine, this time also counting women 330 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: and animals. On November twenty three, census taker Mark Amrua 331 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: approached a woman named Nuan Rua on her husband's compound 332 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: and told her to count the compounds women and animals, 333 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: and according to testimony that was later given before a 334 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: commission that investigated all of this, she said, quote, are 335 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 1: you still counting? Last year? My son's wife, who was 336 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: pregnant died. I am still mourning the death of that 337 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: woman was your mother counted In her account, he grabbed 338 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: her and she smeared red palm oil onto his shirt 339 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,719 Speaker 1: while trying to get away. In his account, she smeared 340 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: him with palm oil in ten nationally to both insult 341 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,680 Speaker 1: him and ruin his clothing, and then chased him out 342 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: of the compound. Nana Rua either went or was summoned 343 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: to the warrant Chief Okugo Okasia, and their accounts also differ. 344 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: In hers, he was dismissive and insulting, threatening her and 345 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: telling her in no uncertain terms that she would be 346 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:24,479 Speaker 1: paying the tax. In his version, he was reassuring and 347 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: told her it was all just a mistake. Nowan Yarua 348 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: went to the market and told the women there about 349 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: what had happened at her husband's compound, and soon rumors 350 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,199 Speaker 1: were spreading that women were about to be taxed along 351 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: with the men. The women passed palm frauds from person 352 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: to person through their market and lineage networks as a 353 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: signal to gather, and this led about ten thousand women 354 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: to meet at the District Administration office on November They 355 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: demanded written assurance that they would not be taxed. A 356 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 1: big part of what followed involved a long established method 357 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: for Ebo women to hold men accountable for their behavior 358 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: and get restitution for wrongs, which was known as sitting 359 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: on a man. If a man wronged someone, particularly if 360 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,360 Speaker 1: he wronged a woman, or if he otherwise violated community 361 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,680 Speaker 1: standards in a way that was considered to be part 362 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: of the women's domain, they would gather at his home, 363 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,679 Speaker 1: often late at night, and do things like dance and 364 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:26,119 Speaker 1: sing songs that shamed him, detailing his wrongdoing and insulting 365 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: his masculinity. They would pound on the walls of his 366 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: home with the pestles they used to pulverize yams. In 367 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,160 Speaker 1: extreme cases, they might pull the roof off his hut 368 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: or slather its exterior with mud. Yeah, they would basically 369 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: do this until the man in question admitted that he 370 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: was wrong and made restitution. But when the women sat 371 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: on the warrant chief in November of not only did 372 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: he refuse to admit any wrongdoing, but he also had 373 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: people from his compound assault some of the women. One 374 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: of them said that she had had a miscarriage as 375 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,360 Speaker 1: a result. So the women took their grievances to District 376 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,359 Speaker 1: Officer John Cook, protesting the census, the tax, and the 377 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: warrant chief's behavior. The warrant chief was ultimately removed from 378 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: his post put on trial in December fourth. More than 379 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: one thousand women attended that trial, at which he was 380 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment. So news 381 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: that these women had successfully gotten the warrant chief removed 382 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,920 Speaker 1: and in fact sentenced to prison really spread beyond the district. 383 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: Women and other communities similarly started sitting on their warrant 384 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: chiefs and British officials to demand assurance that they wouldn't 385 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: be taxed, and to demand the removal and punishment of 386 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: corrupt warrant chiefs. As this movement spread and grew, women 387 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: also started damaging colonial telegraph lines, railroads, roads, and even buildings. 388 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: At first, British authorities were baffled and appalled by the 389 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: women's demonstrations. Many of the women were mostly naked, wearing 390 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:04,120 Speaker 1: palm fronds around their foreheads or waists, and carrying sticks 391 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: adorned with palm leaves, which was shocking to British sensibilities 392 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: about nudity and dress. But it wasn't until December thirteenth 393 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: that the British started to see the uprising as really 394 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: threatening instead of just disorderly and shocking. That day, women 395 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: attacked government buildings and factories in a Werry province after 396 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: a doctor deliberately drove his car through a group of demonstrators. 397 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: This seems to be the turning point that made firing 398 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 1: on the women from the British point of view and inevitability. 399 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: On December fourteenth, police cleared an assembly of women in 400 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: Abak by firing their weapons into the ground and moving 401 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: the women along with the butts of their rifles. It 402 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: doesn't appear that anyone was killed during this, but it 403 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: is also not clear how many people were injured, since 404 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: a lot of women who were probably would not have 405 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: come forward then I'm the fifteenth. Police in udu et 406 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: m Pope fired on a crowd of women, killing eighteen 407 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: and wounding nineteen others. A day later, in a Pobo, 408 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,199 Speaker 1: police again opened fire on a group of demonstrating women, 409 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: this time killing thirty one along with a man who 410 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: happened to be passing through the area. Eight other women 411 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: were pushed or fell into a river as the crowd 412 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:25,119 Speaker 1: was fleeing and drowned. Among the Ebo and other African 413 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 1: women who had been part of this. It was just 414 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: unfathomable that their actions, which drew from this long standing 415 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: and socially appropriate practice of sitting on a man, would 416 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 1: be met with any kind of violence against their persons. 417 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 1: But in the end, more than fifty women were killed 418 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: and at least that many were wounded. On December, British 419 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,160 Speaker 1: authorities reported that the situation in Ebo Land was under control, 420 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: but sporadic demonstrations followed after that. By the time it ended, 421 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: the women's war had ranged over more than six thousand 422 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: miles of southeastern Nigeria. At this point, the Jillian Wallabag massacre, 423 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: also known as the Amritzer massacre in India was still 424 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: pretty fresh on the minds of British authorities. We mentioned 425 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 1: that massacre in our previous episode on tear gas. After 426 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: that massacre, there had been people who supported the British 427 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,320 Speaker 1: troops that had fired on unarmed demonstrators, but the massacre 428 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: had also sparked outrage in the British public and the 429 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: House of Commons. Fearing a similar response to what had 430 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: happened in Nigeria, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 431 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 1: Sydney web Lord pass Field, ordered an inquiry. This inquiry 432 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,920 Speaker 1: was not particularly thorough, though the commission itself was made 433 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: up exclusively of British people, thirty six witnesses were interviewed, 434 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: none of whom were women who had been part of 435 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: the demonstrations or even people who knew enough about their 436 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: position to be able to really understand and explain their interests. 437 00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: A report issued on January totally exonerated the British respon Mounts. 438 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: Lord Passfield knew this would not satisfy the British public, 439 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: or members of Parliament, or the people of Nigeria, so 440 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: he ordered a second investigation in March of nine. The 441 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: British were calling this uprising the Aba Riots, and this commission, 442 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,919 Speaker 1: which was known as the Abba Commission, convened for three months. 443 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: This time, the commissioners included two Nigerian barristers as well 444 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,159 Speaker 1: as British lawyers and government officials, and they interviewed five 445 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: hundred Nigerian and British witnesses. This time, the commission found 446 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: that the killings had been avoidable, but the massacre didn't 447 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: spark the kind of outcry that Lord pass Field had feared, 448 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: so he didn't pursue the matter. Further, the soldiers and 449 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: police who had fired on the women were ultimately exonerated 450 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: and no one was directly punished, although some officials were 451 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: removed or transferred from their posts. After this uprising was over, 452 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: British authorities used the same tactics that they had previously 453 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: used to quote pacify Nigeria, including levying large fines season 454 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: people's property and burning villages, including again using collective punishments 455 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: against whole villages where demonstrating women had lived. Women's forms 456 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 1: of advocacy, including sitting on a man or outlawed as 457 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: vigilante activities, but by nine thirty three, British authorities also 458 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: made significant changes to their system of indirect rule in 459 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: southeastern Nigeria. Warrant chiefs were replaced with masked benches, which 460 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: were panels of judges selected by villages, with the villages 461 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 1: also determining how many judges to have. Districts were also 462 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: redrawn so that court areas more closely aligned with pre 463 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: colonial groups of villages. In general, women had a say 464 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: in who was selected to serve on a mast bench, 465 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: but it was comparatively rare for women to actually serve 466 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: on one, as we noted at the top of the show. 467 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: We've primarily focused on Ebo women in this at pisode, 468 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: but women from other cultural and linguistic groups were also 469 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: involved in this uprising, and afterward women's networks and greater 470 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: community networks started to become a little more cross cultural 471 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: in southeastern Nigeria, with women of multiple ethnic and linguistic 472 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: groups sort of thinking of themselves as part of a 473 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: great Council of all women or all wives, or even 474 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: a great council of everyone. Of course, Nigeria in general 475 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: and Ebo people specifically have a long and complicated history 476 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: from this point, but the women's activism in ninety nine 477 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: has been cited as inspiration for multiple uprisings and demonstrations 478 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: that followed, including tax protests in nineteen forty eight and 479 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, oil mill protests in the nineteen forties, 480 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: and demonstrations at oil loading docks and pumping stations in 481 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: the early two thousands. And there's also a novel called 482 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: I Saw the Sky Catch Fire that focuses on the 483 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: women's war, and a Nigerian film called ninety nine came 484 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: out just last year in twenty nineteen. Um I think 485 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: you can actually get that film here in the US 486 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: on some streaming services, but I wasn't able to watch 487 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: it before doing this episode. I also have a little 488 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: bit of listener mail get so the listener mail is 489 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: from Terry who says, good day from Australia. I have 490 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: just listened to the Sims Theory of Concentric Spheres podcast. 491 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: It was very interesting, particularly when you consider the concave 492 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: Earth theory. This theory states that were not on the 493 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: outside of the Earth, but inside, and it makes perfect sense. 494 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: We're on the inside of the globe. The stars are 495 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: lights from cities on the other side of the globe. 496 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: When we look at the horizon, we look up. If 497 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: we were on the outside of the globe, we would 498 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: look down. I think of how planes take off. They 499 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: go up, but if we were on the outside, they 500 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: would go down. Then the Remuter triangle in similar areas. 501 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: They are exhaust fans for the plant. It all makes sense. 502 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: You may have guessed that alcohol was involved in the 503 00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: formation of the series. I hope it brings some joy 504 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: to your day. Terry from Australia. Terry, it did bring 505 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: some joy to my day, and it also reminded me 506 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: of a thing um that I found while researching the 507 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: episode that did not make it into the episode because 508 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. And it 509 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: was also uh ancillary, it was like beside the point, 510 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: and that is that in the nineteen eighties there was 511 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: an Egyptian mathematician named Mastafa Abdel Cotter who wrote some 512 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 1: papers detailing a mathematical model for um a concave Earth 513 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: with us on the interior of it. Um, which seems 514 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: like a super interesting thing to be looking at mathematically, 515 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,800 Speaker 1: but like I said, I couldn't quite like get my 516 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 1: mind wrapped around it. Um. So anyway, thank you. I 517 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,960 Speaker 1: was indeed amused by that email. Uh and um, I'm 518 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: glad that it gave me a chance to kind of 519 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: bring up that, like one of the little tidbits that 520 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 1: didn't make it into that episode. If you would like 521 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: to write to us about this or any other Podcas asked, 522 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: We're at History Podcast at i heeart radio dot com, 523 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: and then we're all over social media at missed in History, 524 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: and that's where you'll find our Facebook and Twitter and 525 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: Pinterest and Instagram. And you can subscribe to our show 526 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: in the I Heart radio app or Apple Podcasts or 527 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: anywhere else. Do you get your podcasts. Stuff you missed 528 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I heart Radio. 529 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart 530 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 531 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: favorite shows.