Struggle History – A Tribute to Lilian Ngoyi
Lilian Ngoyi was born on 25 September 1911 and died on 13 March 1980.
She was the first woman elected to the executive of the African National Congress and helped to launch the Federation of South African Women.
Lilian Ngoyi joined the ANC Women’s League in 1952 and was at that stage a widow with two children and an elderly mother to support – and earned her income as a seamstress. A year later she was elected as President of the Women’s League.
On 9 August 1956 Lilian Ngoyi led a group of 20 000 women marching to the Union buildings in Pretoria in protest against the then Government requiring black women to carry pass books.
Ngoyi was not an intellectual but rather a strong orator and a source of fiery inspiration to her fellow colleagues in the ANC. She was arrested in 1956 and spend 71 days in solidary confinement – following with a period of 11 years placed under severe bans and restrictions that most often cionfined her to her home in Orlando, Soweto.
On the 9th of August 2006 the Strijdom Square in Pretoria (from where the women commenced their march to the Union Buildings) was renamed Lilian Ngoyi Square.
RED LOCATION MUSEUM: COME AND EXPERIENCE HISTORY FROM THE STRUGGLE PERSPECTIVE
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