Charlotte Maxeke's 151st Birthday

Today’s Doodle, illustrated by South Africa-based artist Pola Maneli, celebrates the life and 151st birthday of Mama Charlotte Maxeke. Widely known as the mother of Black Freedom in South Africa, she was a scholar, an evangelist and a torchbearer for Black South African women’s rights.

Charlotte Manye Maxeke was born in 1871 in the small town of Fort Beaufort, situated in today’s Eastern Cape province. She eventually found herself following in her parents’ footsteps—her mother was a teacher, her father a preacher.  By age 20, Maxeke was invited to sing and tour Britain with the African Jubilee Choir; during this experience she made connections that inspired her to travel to the United States.

She eventually earned a bachelor degree from the Wilberforce University in 1903 and is recognized as the first Black South African woman to graduate from the school, as well as the first with a university degree from America.  While in school, Maxeke excelled in many fields of study and was lectured by renowned Pan-Africanist scholar, W.E.B. DuBois. 

After returning to South Africa, Maxeke settled in Johannesburg and became involved in the country’s political and social rights movements. She attended the launch of the South African Native National Congress (SANCC) in Bloemfontein in 1912. As an avid opponent of the dompas, a pass which regulated and limited the freedom of Black South Africans (especially women), Maxeke helped organize the anti-dompas movement in 1913. She also founded the Bantu Women’s League of the SANCC in 1918.

Over the next 25 years, Charlotte Maxeke continued her efforts as a tireless leader and advocate for women’s rights. She worked with others across race and class, oftentimes remembered as “everyone’s friend and no one’s enemy.”

Happy birthday, Charlotte Maxeke!

Guest Artist Q&A with Pola Maneli

Today’s Doodle was illustrated by South Africa-based guest artist Pola Maneli. Below, he shares his thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:

Q. Why was this topic meaningful to you personally?

A: I'd seen images of uCharlotte and knew who she was, and even knew a little about her history as a political figure in Southern Africa—but I was nowhere near as familiar with her achievements as I was with those of her male contemporaries. Once I started doing the research, though, it quickly became apparent to me just how extraordinary of a person she was. And although everything about her work and the legacy she left behind points to a rejection of individual exceptionalism in favor of an upliftment of the collective, I believe that she was a truly special person—and her remarkable qualities don't alienate her from her community, but rather reflect favorably back onto it.

Q. What were your first thoughts when you were approached about working on this Doodle?

A: Disbelief and panic were the most prominent reactions at first, but that eventually settled into an excitement that I haven't felt in a very long time.

Q. Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle? 

A: I definitely zeroed in on the fact that she traveled the world with a gospel choir in her youth, and then I tried to imagine what she might have pulled from that experience. From that, I realized that to be in a choir is to understand the value of separate duties coming together to create something better than the sum of its parts—to truly understand what it means to be in harmony. 

And how she was not only in harmony with those around her, but also with the various facets of her own life. The radical, the performer, the organizer, the student, the traveler, and the teacher—all in harmony, nestled comfortably beside the next.

Q. What message do you hope people take away from your Doodle?

A: That whilst we all contain multiple facets within ourselves, it takes the support and solidarity of people around us to truly allow those parts to grow and flourish.