Black history hero Charlotte Maxeke

The black women of South Africa’s fight for gender equality is no different from the struggle black women in America face.  All black women globally have been inextricably linked to the fight for racial equality. The heroes of the black women’s struggle are also stalwarts of the political struggle and in the process of political change; today AFS celebrates Charlotte Maxeke. In 1905, Maxeke became the first black woman in the country to earn her Bachelor’s degree here in America. As a schoolteacher, she decided to continue her studies in the United States. Upon her return to South Africa, she threw herself into the fight for racial and gender equality. In 1918, she founded the Bantu Women’s League of the South African Native National Congress. In 1935, she became the first president of the national Council for African Women.

Maxeke’s life story demonstrates the global struggle that black women have always faced. It is important to remember that we are in this fight together.