This book, which examines the role of African women in the conversation on nationalism during South Africa's era of segregation, excavates female voices and brings them to the provocative fore. From 1910 to 1948, African women contributed to political thought as editorialists, club organizers, poets, leaders, and activists who dared to challenge the country's segregationist regime at a time when it was bent on consolidating White power. Daughters of Africa founder Cecilia Lillian Tshabalala and National Council of African Women President Mina Tembeka Soga feature in this work, which employs the artistic theory of "sampling" and decoloniality to highlight and showcase how these women and others among their cadre spoke truth to power through the fiery lines of their poetry, newspaper columns, thought-provoking speeches, organizational documents, personal testimonies, and musical compositions. It argues that these African women left behind a blueprint to grapple with and contest the political climate in which they lived under segregation, by highlighting the role and agency of African women intellectuals at Apartheid's dawn.

Autorentext

Dawne Yvette Curry is Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, where she teaches courses in African History. Dawne, a US Fulbright Scholar (2017-2018), is the author of Apartheid on a Black Isle: Removal and Resistance in Alexandra, South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

Inhalt

1. African Women's Indelible Footprints in the Historical Sand2. Roots of Segregation, Apartheid's Menacing Predecessor3. Activist Intellectuals Speak Truth to Power on the Nation4. Travel Narratives of Globetrotting African Women5. Oral and Written Resolutions to Segregation and Transport6. Daughters of Africa and the Politics of Religious, and Literary Sampling7. National Council of African Women and the Minutes of a Moral Agenda8. Blueprints for the Nation They Left Behind