Freda Levson

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Winifred "Freda" May Levson (born MacDonald Troup 21 November 1911 - 7 October 2004) was a South African activist. Levson fought against apartheid throughout her life. Her 1950 book, In Face of Fear: Michael Scott's Challenge to South Africa, brought public attention to the issues of racial segregation in Africa and also to the work of Reverend Michael Scott.

Biography[edit]

Levson was born in Pretoria on 21 November 1911.[1] Until she was 13, she attended school in England and spent her holidays in Scotland.[1] She went on to study geography at St Hugh's College.[1] During World War II, she volunteered on a ship that took evacuee children to South Africa and afterwards, she stayed there with her family.[2]

Levson worked with Reverend Michael Scott in 1946 on the plight of Namibians and other related liberation campaigns.[1] Levson felt that the plight of Hereros people in Namibia was a "test case" for racial segregation.[3] In 1948, she took Scott's notes from the United Nations and used these to publish a book, In Face of Fear: Michael Scott's Challenge to South Africa (1950).[1] The book includes historical perspective and attention to detail about Scott's work according to The Age.[3] However, The Observer wrote that the book "lacks balance, continuity and exactitude."[4] The book did bring public attention to the issue.[5]

Levson married Leon Levson in the early 1950s and the couple moved to Johannesburg.[2] She was involved in the launch of the 1952 defiance campaign against unjust laws led by the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).[2] Levson, spent four weeks in jail, along with Bettie du Toit, for her participation.[2][6] Both women were fined as well.[7]

Levson helped maintain the funds of the South African Treason Trial Defence fund which helped support legal fees for those accused during the 1956 Treason Trial.[1][8] Levson also began to work with Congress Alliance in exile and worked for the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF).[1] She worked as IDAF secretary until 1961, when her husband became ill.[1]

Briefly, she and her husband moved to Malta for his health, but Leon Levson died that same year.[1] Levson moved to London and met Nelson Mandela there in 1962.[1]

In 1963, she started a boycott movement called Playwrights Against Apartheid which encouraged writers to "withdraw rights to have their works performed in racially segregated theatres in South Africa."[9] Samuel Beckett was involved and Waiting for Godot was not performed again in South Africa until 1976 when it starred an all-black cast as Market Theatre, Johannesburg.[9] Between 1980 and 1985, she served on the council of IDAF.[2]

When apartheid was ended, Levson donated her papers to Fort Hare University.[1] She received a telegram from Mandela on her 90th birthday, where he wrote that he would always remember her efforts to fight apartheid.[2] Levson died on 7 October 2004.[2]

Selected bibliography[edit]

  • In Face of Fear: Michael Scott's Challenge to South Africa. London: Faber and Faber. 1950. OCLC 906063325.
  • South Africa: An Historical Introduction. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1975. OCLC 603720402.
  • Forbidden Pastures: Education Under Apartheid. London: International Defence and Aid Fund. 1977. ISBN 9780904759105.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Freda Levson". South African History Online. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Joseph, Paul (28 October 2004). "Freda Levson: Fighting Apartheid Through Fundraising". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b "White and Black in South-West Africa". The Age. 27 May 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 2 January 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Perham, Margery (14 May 1950). "Black and White". The Observer. p. 7. Retrieved 2 January 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Skinner, Rob (2010). The Foundations of Anti-Apartheid: Liberal Humanitarians and Transnational Activists in Britain and the United States, c.1919-64. Springer. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-230-30908-1.
  6. ^ Driver, C. J. (1980). Patrick Duncan: South African and Pan-African. Oxford: James Currey Publishers. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-85255-773-0.
  7. ^ "Participants in African Civil Disobedience Campaign Fines". Alabama Tribune. 13 February 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 2 January 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Buthelezi, Jabulani (2002). Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Nelson Mandela. Amashenge Publishers. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-4122-5015-3.
  9. ^ a b "Playwrights Against Apartheid, with letters from Dennis Brutus and Samuel Beckett". The British Library. Retrieved 2 January 2020.

External links[edit]

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