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

Biography

Robb was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

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 is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, 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) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

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

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

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

Activism

Robb was one of the original founding members of Black Sash, 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: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

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

, 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 A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''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