Charlotte Maxeke passed away on this day in 1939.
- She was the first Black woman to graduate with a BSc in 1903
- She was the first Black teacher in what was then Transvaal
-She founded the Bantu Women's League in 1918
- She was the first Black woman to open the AME church in SA

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Umteteleli Wa Bantu newspaper. This was edited by her husband Marshall. She and Nontsizi Mgqwetho were its first women contributors. Mgqwetho published poetry in isiXhosa (the first woman to do so). Maxeke was a columnist.

I have a feeling was the first woman to write columns in isiXhosa specifically writing about the role women play in political and social movements.

In addition to leading the anti-pass campaigns of the 1910s, she was also one of the people who helped form the Industrial Commercial Workers Union in 1920. It's ironic though because Umteteleli was a mining owned newspaper aimed at countering the ICU's publication.

She and her husband moved to the Eastern Cape for a while in the mid-20s. During her stay there (around Dutywa) she was selected to serve in King Sabata's court. By this time she was also the president of the Women's Missionary Society.

UMama was also the founder of the National Council of African Women a move sparked by a resolution of the All African Convention. It is impossible to talk about women's involvement in politics without talking about the spaces Maxeke created for said involvement.

To read more on Maxeke, download Dr Thozama April's PhD thesis. It's open access and is the most important work you will ever read on this remarkable woman known as the Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa.