Charlotte Maxeke

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Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke (nee Manye) (7 April 1874 - 16 October 1939), a South African religious leader and political activist, was born at Ramokgopa near Polokwane. As a young girl she sang in concerts and while on tour to Canada and the United States she was offered a scholarship to study at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. While at Wilberforce she met and later married Marshall Maxeke. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1905. She and her husband returned to South Africa and founded the Wilberforce Institute.

Charlotte became active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which she played a part in bringing to South Africa. The church later elected her president of the Women's Missionary Society. By 1919 she was active in the anti-pass laws demonstrating which led her to found the Bantu Women's League which later became part of the African National Congress Women's League.

Charlotte died at the age of 65 in Johannesburg.