Not Too Long Ago, Pupils Went To School Unclad In Some Parts Of Nigeria (photo)
This epic photo was taken in 1952 at Bomadi Delta province.
Seriously?? According to oral history, western style clothes only came into the present day Delta state as recently as the 1930s, but even at that it is surprising that two decades after, kids went to school butt Unclad. In a bid for the European imperialists to sell their manufactured products, foreign textile materials and sewing machines were imported into the country, and the presence of these products made it possible for people in Delta, Ukwuaniland for example, to take up tailoring as an occupation. Before then, the Onicha-Ukwuani people were weavers of the local cloth called 'nchichi or 'ukor ogbolu,' a kind of cover cloth. This cloth is small in size, made of cotton and tied around the body. This was their mode of dressing before the influx of western style fashion which stifled the local industry.
At the risk of anachronism (judging past events using contemporary standards), I am seriously wondering why these children were not covered with nchichi before being shipped off to school. I can see one little boy at the extreme right who is the only one not in his birthday suit.
All so note that majority of the kids in the photo are male, unlike now when the opposite is the case. How times have truly changed.
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