Albertina Sisulu. Photo: SA History
Albertina Sisulu, South Africa
Albertina is famously known as the wife of Walter Sisulu, an activist and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). She was not initially interested in politics but after joining the ANC’s Women’s League in 1955, she became an active political activist. She was also the only woman present at the launch of the youth faction of the ANC.
Albertina joined two other women to organise the protest against passes law by the apartheid government that required women to carry passes. She was also the first woman to be arrested under the General Laws Amendment Act of 1963 that allowed the police to hold anyone for 90 days without charging them.
Among the things she protested was Bantu Education, which segregated blacks to be educated at home.
Sisulu had the honour of nominating Nelson Mandela as the 1994 presidential candidate.
She died in 2011 at 92 years old.
