The Biography of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a well-recognized, award-winning Nigerian poet, novelist, and prominent author of renowned African American feminist Literature. She has discussed and represented feminist activism, gender equality, and toxic masculinity. 

Adichie was born in Enugu, Nigeria on September 15, 1977. She was the daughter of Igbo -- ethnic native group of south-central and southeastern Nigeria -- parents, Grace Ifeoma and James Nwoye Adichie. She grew up in Nsukka, Nigeria along with her five siblings. It was then and there she was first introduced to the word feminist by her dear, beloved friend, Okuloma. In her 2012 TEDx Talk, she shares, “...he was the first person to call me a feminist.” She admits to not knowing what the word feminist meant, but she was intrigued by it and as to why Okuloma had called her a feminist during an argument. She recalls going home and opening the dictionary searching for the word feminist, she reads, “ Feminist, a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” In that moment she knew Okuloma was right, she was a feminist.  Upon completing her secondary education and receiving various awards for her academics, she went on to the University of Nigeria where her father taught statistics and her mother was the university's registrar. At her father's request she enrolled in medical school. It did not take adichie long enough to follow her true calling, writing. At the age of nineteen she dropped out of the University of Nigeria, packed her bags and traveled to the United States with a scholarship to further her education in communication and African American studies at Drexel University. She then attended Eastern Connecticut State University to earn a degree in communication and political science. It was during this time when her love for writing opened many doors and opportunities for her. Adichie began writing for the Universities journal. Edmund Chibeau, professor of communication at the university recognized, “Adichie’s storytelling was so powerful that Chibeau asked her to write some articles for the Campus Lantern and then made the articles required reading for his class.”

It was during Adichie's senior year at Eastern Connecticut that she began to focus on her writing and started working on her first novel, Purple Hibiscus. After a few months in 2001 she graduated and continued her education at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to earn her masters in creative writing. It was then, in 2003 that it all began, Adichie's novel, Purple Hibiscus was published-- a novel that brings domestic violence into the picture, which is a prominent problem in Nigerian culture; toxic masculinity. It is a coming of age novel in which the characters struggle to find their place and identity. It is an important book to the African American, Nigerian culture because it discusses the effects of toxic masculinity. In the African American or Nigerian culture mean are taught that physical strength and is more important than any other attribute. Adichie adds that, “We stifle the humanity of boys. We define masculinity in a very narrow way, masculinity becomes this hard, small cage and we put boys inside the cage.” At a very young age boys are taught to be men. They are taught not to cry because, “men don't cry” in a sense we take away their vulnerability and the only way or form they are allowed or feel that it's okay is through physical strength and intermediation toward women to prove their masculinity. This is a well known problem in Nigeria and in the African American culture because, “boys have to be hard men.” But what does it mean to be a hard man; intimidating women, acting reckless, masking their emotions. 

To sum up, Adichie stresses on the importance on why we do a great disservice to me not only in Black culture, but in all cultures. Adichie has become one of the most influential figures to Nigerian and African American culture speaking regularly on women issues and promoting feminist activism in her creative and critical writing works.