Black History Month

Bongani Ndodana-Breen is a notable member of the St. Andrews College Alumni. He is a composer, musician, academic and cultural activist. He attended St Andrews College and attained his PhD in musical composition at Rhodes. In 1998, Ndodana-Breen was the first Black classical composer to be awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, by the National Arts Festival. He was profiled on CNN African Voices for his work Harmonia Ubuntu commissioned for the centenary of Nelson Mandela and based on his writings and speeches. He is a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University for the 2019/2020 academic year.

He has written operas, orchestral and chamber works, including the opera “Winnie” The Opera based on anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela. Dr. Ndodana-Breen is also an advocate for cultural diversity, supporting various African efforts including LGBT causes.

Kobe Bryant was an American professional basketball player. As a shooting guard, Bryant entered the NBA directly form high school, and played his whole 20 season career in the league with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant won many accolades: five NBA championships, 18 time all star, 15 time member of the All-NBA team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team, 2008 NBA most valuable player (MVP), two-time NBA finals MVP winner. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, ranks fourth on the league's all-time regular season scoring and all-time postseason scoring lists. 

Quote: “I'll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it's sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”

Ron Stallworth became the first black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department in the 1970s. He is best known for infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan after he came across a newspaper advertisement in October 1978.

He met and befriended many notable figures during his undercover operation, such as David Duke, who was the Grand Wizard of the KKK at the time. The successes of his operations include preventing three cross burnings and uncovering multiple high-ranking military officers who were Klansmen.

Quote: “If one black man, aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open and liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly are, then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.”

Solomon Mahlangu was born on the 10th of July 1956 in Pretoria Mamelodi, where he was raised by a single mother, who worked in a kitchen. Solomon was in his standard 8 year of high school when schools had to close due to the Soweto uprising. That year, Mahlangu decided he was going to make a significant stand against apartheid. He joined the ANC military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe and this is where he made a significant impact. At age 22, Mahlangu was arrested, with the Supreme Court verdict being the death penalty, on accounts of murder and terrorism. He was executed on the 4th of April 1979.

Before death, Solomon uttered the words: “Tell my people that I love them and that they must continue the fight. My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom.”

Chris Hani was a fierce political activist, who perpetuated an armed resistance against the National Party. Many have compared his leadership qualities to that of Malcom X – a feared activist, who denied the notion of bowing to whites and subjugating black people to the very culture that had historically denigrated and abused them. At age 15 he joined the ANC Youth League. Following his graduation at Fort Hare, he joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC. Later on in his life he took over from Joe Slovo as head of the South African Communist Party on the 8 December 1991. Chris Hani was assassinated on 10th April 1993 in the suburb of Boksburg. Historically, the assassination is seen as a turning point in South African history.

Quote: “What I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists who drive around in Mercedes Benz’s and use the resources of this country to live in palaces and to gather riches.” 

Lilian Ngoyi was a fighter against the cruelties of apartheid, at what was a very early stage of the revolution. She led one of the very first feminist movements in South Africa and paved a way for many to follow. She joined the ANC Women's League in 1952 and a year later she was elected as President of the Women's League. On 9 August 1956, Ngoyi led a women's march along with Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, Motlalepula Chabaku, Bertha Gxowa and Albertina Sisulu of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings of Pretoria in protest against the apartheid government requiring women to carry passbooks as part of the pass laws. She was a true inspiration to many and a bright light during the dark days of our history.

Quote: "When you strike a woman, you strike a rock." 

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave

Quote : "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

Eight short years. That’s how long it took Jean-Michel Basquiat to secure his legacy as an art world prodigy. He died at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose, leaving behind paintings, drawings and notebooks, many of which explored themes of counterculture American punk, the urban plight of the African diaspora, improvisational jazz music and the vagaries of fame during the Ronald Reagan-era 1980s. He produced vibrant and emotional canvases with a kind of refined cool reminiscent of improvisational jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.

Quote: “I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”

Steve Biko was an anti-apartheid activist. In 1968, Biko co-founded the South African Students' Organization, an all-black student organization focusing on the resistance of apartheid, and subsequently spearheaded the newly started Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. In September 1977, Biko was found naked and shackled in Pretoria, South Africa. He died the following day, on September 12, 1977, from a brain haemorrhage — later determined to be the result of injuries he had sustained while in police custody. The news of Biko's death caused national outrage and protests, and he is now regarded as an an anti-apartheid icon and a symbol for South Africa’s democratic resurgence.

Quote: “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”