Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,

the past brought to life by those who were there. This week the first woman to break into the ranks

of America's frontline fighter pilots.

I truly wanted to be the best.

I never wanted to be the first.

The first was how the timing worked out.

You know, I didn't want the publicity.

Plus, a US Supreme Court ruling that appeared to many to threaten the voting rights of

black Americans.

The late Justice Scalia said, isn't this just another form of a racial entitlement?

And because the right to vote is not an entitlement

that Justice Scalia viewed the issue and the case

through that lens was just painful to hear.

From the 1930s, the final evacuation of St Kilda off the Scottish North Coast

and the former police captain who got arrested during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement.

The commander said, what do you want?

And I said, I want you to arrest me.

And then he did. And walking across that intersection, handcuffed, was the proudest moment of my life.

That's all coming up later in the podcast, but we begin in West Africa where this year Nigeria is marking 60 years of independence.

Clearly there were many individuals who played significant roles in the struggle to end British rule,

but we're going to focus on the life of a single leading figure in that fight for democracy, a pioneering

feminist who galvanized local activists and helped to build powerful trade unions.

...