In October 1945, the Fifth Pan-African Congress convened in Manchester, England. Held at the Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall from 15 to 21 October, the event brought together some of the most influential African, Caribbean, and Black British intellectuals and activists of the twentieth century. Organised by George Padmore, Amy Ashwood Garvey, and W. E. B. Du Bois, the Congress marked a decisive turning point in Pan-African politics, from earlier elite appeals for reform to the collective demand for self-determination and decolonisation that would define the postwar era.
Among the participants recorded in contemporary reports was a woman identified as “Mrs. Renner, a barrister from Lagos.” Her presence at Manchester represents one of the earliest verified instances of a Nigerian woman participating in a Pan-African Congress and advocating publicly for the advancement of African women’s education.
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The Congress and Its Context
The 1945 Manchester Congress was the culmination of nearly five decades of Pan-African thought and organisation. Earlier meetings, from the 1900 London conference to the 1927 New York gathering, had largely involved members of the African diaspora. By contrast, Manchester featured strong representation from Africans studying and working in Britain and from colonial labour movements, linking Pan-Africanism to anti-imperialist and socialist activism.
Delegates included future African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta, writers like Peter Abrahams, and organisers such as Ras Makonnen. The Congress resolutions demanded immediate self-government for colonial territories, equal educational opportunities, and workers’ rights, setting the ideological groundwork for later independence movements.
Women, though few in number, played visible roles in the proceedings. Amy Ashwood Garvey co-chaired the event and introduced debates on women’s equality and social reform. Within this environment, Mrs. Renner’s documented advocacy for women’s education aligned with the Congress’s broader recognition that emancipation must include educational and gender equality.
Identifying “Mrs. Renner”
A photograph taken by John Deakin for Picture Post magazine depicts a poised Black woman captioned “Mrs. Renner, a barrister from Lagos.” The image appeared in the issue of 10 November 1945, within a feature often referenced as “Africa Speaks in Manchester.” It is preserved in the Hulton Archive and reproduced in the Getty Images collection, which maintains the same caption and publication date.
Subsequent biographical research identifies this figure as Olabisi Modupe Alakija, later known as Olabisi Awoonor-Renner, a Nigerian lawyer from the distinguished Alakija family of Lagos. In April 1944, she married Kweku (Bankole) Awoonor-Renner, a Ghanaian-born journalist, Marxist thinker, and anti-colonial activist who worked in both the Gold Coast and Nigeria.
Her professional training as a barrister and her marriage to a leading Pan-African intellectual provide consistent support for identifying her as the “Mrs. Renner” of the Picture Post caption. She was one of the very few Nigerian women of her generation to enter the legal profession, active in civic and educational reform before joining her husband in Britain during the war years.
Evidence and Its Limits
The Picture Post caption explicitly states that Mrs. Renner “advocated higher standards of education for African women.” This phrasing originates directly from the 1945 publication and serves as a primary contemporary record linking her to the theme of women’s education. It provides reliable evidence that her advocacy was recognised by the British media as part of the Congress’s public message.
However, no transcript or written record of a speech by Mrs. Renner has been located in surviving Congress proceedings. Researchers must therefore distinguish between what is documented, her attendance and the caption’s attribution, and what remains unknown, such as the precise content or length of any remarks she may have made.
The most accurate summary is that a Nigerian barrister identified as Mrs. Renner attended the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, was photographed by John Deakin, and was described in a contemporaneous caption as an advocate for higher educational standards for African women.
Mrs. Renner’s Place in Pan-African Networks
Delegation lists and later historical summaries mention “Mrs. Renner” in association with West African groups linked to the Friends of African Freedom Society and to Gold Coast nationalist circles, the same networks in which Bankole Awoonor-Renner was active. Her inclusion aligns with these records, situating her within a transnational community of West African intellectuals in mid-1940s Britain.
Although the precise extent of her participation is uncertain, her documented presence is significant. She was among the earliest Nigerian women known to engage directly in Pan-African politics at an international level. Her public advocacy for women’s education reflected a conviction shared by contemporaries such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti in Nigeria and Amy Ashwood Garvey in the Caribbean, that political freedom must be accompanied by the social and intellectual advancement of women.
Within the Pan-African movement, education was understood as an essential tool for liberation. Mrs. Renner’s representation in Picture Post demonstrates that women’s contributions, while often overlooked in subsequent retellings, were recognised by some observers even at the time.
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Significance and Legacy
Olabisi Awoonor-Renner’s verified presence at the 1945 Manchester Congress highlights the intersection of gender, education, and professional identity in colonial and early nationalist West Africa. Her career as a lawyer and her family background in Lagos’s educated elite placed her in a position to advocate for the inclusion of women in the political and educational transformation of African societies.
Although her individual statements have not survived, her appearance and contemporary description affirm her role as a visible participant in the intellectual movements that prefigured African independence. The Fifth Pan-African Congress is remembered for inspiring the next generation of African leaders; within that story, Mrs. Renner’s participation symbolises the broader contribution of women whose activism and professional example linked personal advancement to collective liberation.
Olabisi Modupe Alakija Awoonor-Renner is a Lagos-born barrister and attended the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester in October 1945. A photograph by John Deakin, published in Picture Post on 10 November 1945, identified her as “Mrs. Renner, a barrister from Lagos” and noted that she advocated higher standards of education for African women.
Author’s Note
While no verbatim record of her remarks survives, her documented participation and the context of the Congress firmly establish her as one of the earliest Nigerian women to feature in an international Pan-African forum. Her advocacy for women’s education linked Nigerian professional reformism to a wider movement for African self-determination and gender equality, a connection that continues to hold historical importance in understanding women’s contributions to anti-colonial politics.
References:
1. Getty Images / Hulton Archive. Photograph by John Deakin, “Mrs. Renner, a barrister from Lagos,” Picture Post, 10 November 1945.
2. The Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester 1945. PanAfricanCongress.org (delegate summaries and archival listings).
3. Biographical entries: Olabisi Awoonor-Renner (née Alakija) and Bankole Awoonor-Renner (secondary historical sources and genealogical summaries).
4. Padmore, George (ed.), Colonial and Coloured Unity: A Programme of Action (Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester, 1945).
5. Sherwood, Marika. Kwame Nkrumah: The Years Abroad, 1935–1947. (London: Freedom Publications, 1996).
