Ruth Noël Robb (born Barrow on 25 December 1913 - January 2009) was a South African activist and member of the

Black Sash The Black Sash is a South African human rights organisation. It was founded in Johannesburg in 1955 as a non-violent resistance organisation for liberal white women. Origins The Black Sash was founded on 19 May 1955 by six middle-class white ...

Biography

Robb was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

on 25 December 1913. Robb most often went by her middle name, Noël. She graduated from Bedford College in 1935 or 1936 and after college, got a job working in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

at St. Cyprians School. She worked at St. Cyprians School for four years. She married Francis Charles Robb in December 1939 and he wanted her to stay at home and raise children, which she did. The couple had five children and Robb continued to do philanthropic work. Robb graduated from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(UCT) in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts. She later earned an honorary masters degree in

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

from UCT in 1994. Robb died in Cape Town in January 2009.

Activism

Robb was one of the original founding members of

, starting in 1955 when it was still called The Women's Defence of the Constitution League. She didn't want black South Africans to lose the right to vote, so she was motivated to stay involved. She remained a member for more than 40 years. In 1956, Robb led a mass march to Cape Town, protesting changes to the Constitution. Robb ran the Black Sash Advice Office in Cape Town which was founded in 1958. This office helped black women deal with legal issues created by

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 ...

, as well as other types of problems they may have faced. After the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Robb and other women brought supplies to people in the area and also helped people visit loved ones in prison. After the creation of

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

, Robb would visit residents of the segregated area and was known as "Mama Robb, Black Sash." In March 1989, she was elected as lifetime Vice President of Black Sash. In 2006, she published a memoir, ''The Sash and I: A Personal Memoir and a Tribute to the Black Sash''.

References

External links

Noel Robb Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robb, Noël 1913 births 2009 deaths Black Sash South African activists South African educators Bedford College, London People from Plymouth, Devon Activists from Cape Town British emigrants to South Africa