We choose this strong, powerful and influential woman as our FMB lady of the week.   We don’t just like her, we love her because is proudly a woman. She is proudly an African woman and she is an epitome of womanhood. She is not just a feminist, but a feminist plus.( Although she hates to be called a feminist, she sees the name as a western tag, but she once called herself a feminist plus).

This phenomenal woman was graced with the title of the “first successful black woman novelist in Britain” and with good reason. She was a novelist and sociologist who wrote several books drawing from her life experiences, from moving from her original home to a new place, life as a black woman in a foreign country, marital struggles and dealing with abuse to raising children as a single mother. Do you know that the manuscript to her first book, the bride Price was burnt by her husband? But she never gave up.

In a time where women were not necessarily speaking boldly about their plights, Buchi had enormous personal challenges ranging from domestic abuse in her marriage to her being a single mom with five children, but she was able to voice the deep emotional struggles that a lot of black women just like herself faced through her works. Notable among her works were “The Joys of Motherhood”, “Second class Citizen” among others. She has won several awards for her work as an activist and writer. Little wonder google doodle celebrated her posthumous birthday on 21^st July 2019. She would have been 75years old this year.

Here are some quick facts about Buchi:

Her full names are Florence Onyebuchi “Buchi” Emecheta (OBE)and she was born in Lagos, Nigeria on  21^st July 1944 and died on  25^th January 2017.  Of course, we all know she was a writer  and a Nigerian.

Her notable Books are:

Second Class Citizen (1974)

The Bride Price (1976)

The Slave Girl (1977)

The Joys of Motherhood (1979)

Gwendolen (1989)

Buchi suffered a stroke in 2010 and died in 2017. But her legacy lives on.

And now as we remember this great woman of our time we shall live you with one of her quotes:

 “In all my novels, I deal with the many problems and prejudices which exists for  Black people in Britain today.”

Cheers!