In 1929, thousands of southeastern Nigerian women rose up in protest against British government agents in events known as the Women's War. In response to economic grievances, colonial exploitation, and political disenfranchisement, these women used precolonial forms of protest to demand governmental reforms. But what, specifically, triggered the Women's War? In this lesson, students read a document by a British historian and an interview with one of the rebels to answer the question: What happened at the start of the Women's War of 1929?
Image: Photograph of Igbo women in 1921. From the New York Public Library.