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Sophiatown
Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and artists, like Father Huddleston, Can Themba, Bloke Modisane, Es'kia Mphahlele, Arthur Maimane, Todd Matshikiza, Nat Nakasa, Casey Motsisi, Dugmore Boetie, and Lewis Nkosi. Rebuilt as a whites-only area under the name of Triomf ("Triumph") in the 1960s, in 2006 it was officially returned to its original name. Sophiatown was one of the oldest black areas in Johannesburg and its destruction represented some of the excesses of South Africa under apartheid. History Sophiatown was originally part of the Waterfall farm. Over time it included the neighbouring areas of Martindale and Newclare. It was purchased by a speculator, Hermann Tobiansky, in 1897. He acquired 237 acres four miles or so west of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Father Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston (15 June 191320 April 1998) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Stepney in London before becoming the second Archbishop of the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. He was best known for his Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activism and his book ''Naught for Your Comfort''. Early life Huddleston was the son of Ernest Huddleston and was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, and educated at Lancing College (1927–1931), Christ Church, Oxford, and at Wells Theological College. He joined an Anglican religious order, the Community of the Resurrection (CR), in 1939, taking vows in 1941, having already served for three years as a curate at St Mark's Swindon. He had been made a deacon at Michaelmas 1936 (27 September) and ordained a priest the following Michaelmas (26 September 1937) — both times by Clifford Woodward, Bishop of Bristol, at Bristol Cathedral. South Africa In September 1940 Huddleston sailed to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dugmore Boetie
Dugmore Boetie is the pen name of South African journalist, writer, and musician Douglas Mahonga Buti (c. 1924 – November 1966). He is best known for ''Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost'', or ''Tshotsholoza'', a fictionalised autobiographical book first published in 1969. Life Many details of Buti's life are unclear, but what is known has been compiled by Benjamin N. Lawrance and Vusumuzi R. Kumalo in the introduction to a 2020 edition of Buti's principal work, ''Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Los''t, or ''Tshotsholoza''. Buti was born between 1922 and 1926 in Sophiatown Township, a racially integrated community of White, Black, Asian and Coloured residents. His father, Alcott Buti, was amaHlubi and an Ethiopianist lay preacher. His mother, Regina, who was classified under apartheid legislation as Cape Coloured, was from a farming family with Dutch and African heritage who lived in Queenstown. She may have been a washerwoman. Buti does not appear to have been educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloke Modisane
William Modisane (28 August 1923 – 1 March 1986), better known as Bloke Modisane, was a South African writer, actor and journalist. Biography William "Bloke" Modisane, the eldest son of Joseph and Ma-Willie Modisane,Nelly E Sonderling (ed.), ''New Dictionary of South African Biography'', Vol. 2, HSRC Press, 1999, pp. 112–14. grew up in Sophiatown, a multiracial suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was murdered and his sister died of malnutrition. To make ends meet, his mother ran a shebeen. As Modisane would write in his autobiography: "My mother wanted a better life for her children, a kind of insurance against poverty by trying to give me a prestige profession, and if necessary would go to jail whilst doing it." He joined ''Drum'' magazine as a journalist and became one of "the ''Drum'' Boys" during ''Drum''s halcyon days in the 1950s, along with Henry Nxumalo, Can Themba, Es'kia Mphahlele and Lewis Nkosi. Modisane was also the jazz critic at ''Drums sist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can Themba
Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) was a South African short-story writer. Biography Themba was born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, but wrote most of his work in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, South Africa. The town was destroyed under the provisions of the apartheid Group Areas Act, which reassigned ethnic groups to new areas. He was a student at Fort Hare University College, where he received an English degree (first-class) and a teacher's diploma. After moving to Sophiatown, he tried his hand at short-story writing. Temba entered the first short story contest of '' Drum'' (a magazine for urban black people concentrating mainly on investigative journalism), which he won. He subsequently worked for ''Drum'', where he became one of the "Drum Boys," together with Henry Nxumalo, Bloke Modisane, Todd Matshikiza, Stan Motjuwadi and Casey Motsisi. They were later joined by Lewis Nkosi and Nat Nakasa. This group lived by the dictum: "Live fast, die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' ( 'boss-ship' or 'boss-hood'), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority White South Africans, white population. Under this minoritarianism, minoritarian system, white citizens held the highest status, followed by Indian South Africans, Indians, Coloureds and Ethnic groups in South Africa#Black South Africans, black Africans, in that order. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly Inequality in post-apartheid South Africa, inequality. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suburbs Of Johannesburg
The suburbs of Johannesburg are officially demarcated areas within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. As in other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, the term ''suburb'' refers to a "neighbourhood", although in South Africa most (but not all) "suburbs" have legally recognised borders (see Township (South Africa)#Legal meaning, legal definition of township) and often (but not always) separate List of postal codes in South Africa, postal codes. The municipal functions for the area, such as municipal policing and social services, are still managed by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, city government. Johannesburg, like many other boomtown (geography), boom towns, grew rapidly and with little planning, and thus the city covers an extremely large area. The main differences between the city's suburbs tend to be socioeconomic: The north is often associated with wealth due to areas such as Houghton, which boasts large propertie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Todd Matshikiza
Todd Tozama Matshikiza OMSS (7 March 1921 – 4 March 1968) was a South African jazz pianist, composer and journalist. As a journalist, he was a contributor to the innovative South African magazine ''Drum,'' in which he wrote in a unique style that came to be known as ''"Matshikese".'' He is also known for his book "''Chocolates for my Wife''", an autobiographical account of his experiences in South Africa and England. As a musician, Matshikiza is celebrated for composing the score of the jazz musical ''King Kong,'' as well as numerous choral works in South African traditional style, notably "''Hamba Kahle''". His legacy was celebrated as a Google Doodle on 25 September 2023. Early life Born on 7 March 1921, into a musical family in Queenstown, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, Matshikiza was the son of Samuel Bokwe Matshikiza, and Grace Ngqoyi Matshikiza, the seventh of seven children. Grace was a well-known soprano, and his father played the organ in the Anglican Church. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Maimane
John Arthur Mogale Maimane (5 October 1932 – 28 June 2005), better known as Arthur Maimane, was a South African journalist and novelist. Biography Maimane was born in Pretoria, South Africa, growing up in the black township of Lady Selborne.Denis Herbstein"Arthur Maimane" (obituary) ''The Guardian'', 15 July 2005. He was educated in Johannesburg at St Peter's College, also known as the "Black Eton" of South Africa (Oliver Tambo was his mathematics teacher before becoming a lawyer and president of the African National Congress)."Arthur Maimane" South African History Online. Maimane was originally intending to study medicine, when a young priest, (who was involved in the |
Lewis Nkosi
Lewis Nkosi (5 December 1936 – 5 September 2010) was a South African writer and journalist, who spent 30 years in exile as a consequence of restrictions placed on him and his writing by the Suppression of Communism Act and the Publications and Entertainment Act passed in the 1950s and 1960s. A multifaceted personality, he attempted multiple genre for his writing, including literary criticism, poetry, drama, novels, short stories, essays, as well as journalism. Early life Nkosi was born in a traditional Zulu family in a place called Embo in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He attended local schools, before enrolling at M. L. Sultan Technical College in Durban."Lewis Nkosi" South African History Online. Later life Nkosi in his early twenties began working as a journalist, first in Durban, joining the weekly pub ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casey Motsisi
Karabo Moses Motsisi (1932–1977), better known as Casey Motsisi or Casey "Kid" Motsisi, was a South African short story writer and journalist. Biography Casey Motsisi was born in Western Native Township (later Westbury) in Johannesburg in 1932. He attended Madibane High School along with Stanley Motjuwadi . Can Themba was his History and English teacher and became a life-long mentor. Motsisi attended teaching college at Pretoria Normal. He and Motjuwadi were co-editors of the school magazine, the ''Normalite''. Motsisi was expelled from the college for refusing to reveal the name of the author of a controversial article in the magazine (according to Motjuwadi, the article was written by Basil “Doc” Bikitsha). After leaving teaching college, he worked for at the short lived newspaper Africa (where Can Themba was the editor). Motsisi was a reporter for ''Drum'' magazine until 1962 and then left to work for ''The World'', returning to ''Drum'' in 1974. He wrote the regular " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Es'kia Mphahlele
Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature. He was given the name Ezekiel Mphahlele at birth but changed his name to Es'kia in 1977. His journey from a childhood in the slums of Pretoria to a literary icon was an odyssey both intellectually and politically. As a writer, he brought his own experiences in and outside South Africa to bear on his short stories, fiction, autobiography and history, developing the concept of African humanism. He skilfully evoked the black experience under apartheid in ''Down Second Avenue'' (1959). It recounted his struggle to get an education and the setbacks he experienced in his teaching career. Mphahlele wrote two autobiographies, more than 30 short stories, two verse plays and a number of poems. He is described as the "Dean of African Letters". He was the recipient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
