Charlotte Manye Maxeke, known as the “Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa”, was born on 7 April 1874 in Ramokgopa in the Polokwane district in Limpopo Province.

She was an unconventional woman who made an invaluable contribution at a time when it was exceptionally hard for women to rise to the fore in liberation politics.

As young women, Charlotte and her sister were members of an African choir that toured England (1891 – 1893) and performed for Queen Victoria. In 1894 she joined a choir that went on tour to Canada and the United States and was offered a scholarship to study at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. While at Wilberforce she met and later married Marshall Maxeke. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1901, becoming the first black South African woman to receive a college degree.

Maxeke became active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which she played a part in bringing to South Africa. The church later elected her president of the Women's Missionary Society.

By 1919 she was active in the anti-pass laws demonstrating which led her to found the Bantu Women's League which later became part of the African National Congress Women's League.

Maxeke managed to break through barriers and was known for her moral consistency, independence of judgement and the courage to express this.

She passed away on 16 October 1939 in Johannesburg in Gauteng.

Sources: SA History & Parliament of South Africa