Charlotte Maxeke 155 Years Old Today
On this day, 7 April 1871, 155 years ago, Charlotte Makgomo (née Mannya) Maxeke was born. Charlotte Maxeke was a social and political activist, religious leader, the first black woman to graduate with a university degree in South Africa and to graduate from an American university, a B.Sc. from Wilberforce University, Ohio, in 1903. She became a founder of the Bantu Women’s League, which later was rechristened the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League.
Charlotte Makgomo (née Mannya) Maxeke was born in Ramokgopa, in the Pietersburg district, the daughter of John Kgope Mannya, who was the son of headman Modidima Mannya from Batlokwa people, under Chief Mamafa Ramokgopa, and Anna Manci, a Xhosa woman from Fort Beaufort. Charlotte’s father was a roads foreman and Presbyterian lay preacher, and her mother was a teacher. Her grandfather served as a key adviser to the King of the Basotho. Soon after her birth, Charlotte’s family moved to Fort Beaufort, where her father was employed at a road construction company.
At age 8, she began her primary school classes at a missionary school in Uitenhage. She excelled in Dutch and English, mathematics and music. Charlotte’s musical prowess was visible at a young age. From Uitenhage, she moved to Port Elizabeth to study at the Edward Memorial School. She excelled and completed her secondary school education in record time, achieving the highest possible grades. In 1885, after th
