Ellen Kuzwayo (1914-2006)

Thanks to black looks

"RIP - One of Africa's most respected and most dedicated women, South African anti-apartheid and women's rights activist and author, Ellen Kuzwayo.

Appearing before the TRC (Truth & Reconciliation Committee) in November 1996, Khuzwayo said: "They ruined our children. They turned our children into animals. I will go to my grave with this pain in my heart."

She was one of the most qualified female black teachers in South Africa but left her profession in protest against the introduction of Bantu Education which she believed was meant to impoverish generations of black children.

"I can forgive them for what they did to us adults but I cannot forgive them for what they did to the children," she said at the TRC hearings in Soweto. read more

"Ellen Kuzwayo; South African Rights Pioneer" by Alexandra Zavis in Washington Post

"South African author, women's rights and anti-apartheid champion Ellen Kuzwayo died April 19 after a long illness. She was 91. [...]

She was the first black writer to win South Africa's premier CNA Literary Prize for her 1985 autobiography, "Call Me Woman," a book that made her a spokeswoman for the suffering and triumphs of black women under apartheid.

"My motivation for writing the book was born out of the negative image about black women in South Africa, promoted by the general community of white people of this country, in particular the women . . . who employed African workers as domestic workers," Ms. Kuzwayo said. read more