Lives of Courage

About the Book

In 1987 and 1988, Dr. Diana Russell journeyed from the United States to the land of her birth to learn about the special role of women in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The fruit of her research is this extraordinary book: the first hand accounts, in their own words, of 24 courageous risk-taking women activists (portraits included). These are not only world-famous leaders like Winnie Mandela and Albertina Sisulu (although their stories are included in the book) but ordinary women who were trade unionists, members of radical organizations, student activists-black and white, African, Indian and Coloured, young and old.

Lives of Courage: Women for a New South Africa compellingly dramatizes the little-known role of women who fought apartheid and its cruel apparatus-banning, banishment, house arrest, imprisonment, and torture-even as they strove to keep together their beleaguered families. With rare candor, they speak of the price they and families paid for their activism, of the difficulties of being a woman in a racist and sexist society, of the terrors they had endured, and of the dreams they nourished of a new South Africa. The fighting spirit of these women, their courage and conviction in the face of a modern state's vindictiveness, shines from every page of this inspiring book.

About the Author

Diana E. H. Russell, Ph. D., was an Emerita Professor of Sociology at Mills College, Oakland, California, U.S.A., where she taught for 22 years. She is currently self-employed and works full-time on research, writing, consulting, lecturing, and feminist activism. Dr. Russell is the author/co-author/editor/co-editor of 17 books?most of them on sexual violence.