Norma Cranko Kitson (18 August 1933 – 12 June 2002) was a South African political activist. She participated in the fight against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Early life

Norma Belle Cranko was born in

Berea, Durban The Berea is a ridge above the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on the northern side which overlooks the city centre and the Indian Ocean. Berea is also used as a collective designation for the suburbs in the area. It has been describe ...

, into a wealthy Jewish family. Her father was a chemist; her mother Millie Stiller Cranko was an immigrant from Poland. Ballet dancer

John Cranko John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Tran ...

was her cousin.Denis Herbstein
"Norma Kitson"
''The Guardian'' (12 July 2002).

Career

At the age of 14, she went to work as a secretary. She joined the South African Communist Party in the 1950s and became a printer for the cause. After her husband was jailed in 1964, she left South Africa with her children and settled in London, where she set up a women's cooperative press in

Gray's Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

. She was often to be found protesting apartheid in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

, in front of

South Africa House South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, as part of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, which she founded. After the end of apartheid, the Kitsons were recognized by the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

as veterans of the cause. She was secretary of

Zimbabwe Women Writers Zimbabwe Women Writers (ZWW) is an organization for women writers established in 1990 in Zimbabwe. It was "the first women's organization in Zimbabwe and in Southern Africa to address gender imbalance through writing and publishing". Established i ...

late in her life, and wrote a creative writing textbook during that time.

Personal life

Norma Cranko married a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran, mechanical engineer

Dave Kitson David Barry Kitson (born 21 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made 420 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 135 for Reading. Kitson began his career with non-Leag ...

. They had two children, Stephen and Amandla; they divorced while Dave was serving a long prison sentence. She remarried in 1973, to choreographer Sidney Cherfas, and divorced again; then remarried her first husband after his freedom in 1984. In 1986, she published an autobiography, ''Where Sixpence Lives''. She moved to

Harare, Zimbabwe Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, after 1994. Norma Kitson died from

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

in 2002, aged 68 years. In 2011 she was honoured by the

Republic of Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

by a postage stamp issued for her in their series

Legendary Heroes of Africa Legendary Heroes of Africa was a series of postage stamps simultaneously issued and released as a joint issue by the countries of Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in March 2011 to celebrate Judaism, Jewish heroes of the Internal_resistance_to_apar ...

."12 Jews Honored on African Stamps as Apartheid Fighters"
''Jerusalem Post'' (3 January 2011).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitson, Norma Jewish activists 1933 births 2002 deaths South African activists South African women activists