Revered in South Africa as "An African American Mother of the Nation,"
Madie Beatrice Hall Xuma spent her extraordinary life immersed in global
women's activism. Wanda A. Hendricks's biography follows Hall Xuma from
her upbringing in the Jim Crow South to her leadership role in the
African National Congress (ANC) and beyond. Hall Xuma was already known
for her social welfare work when she married South African physician and
ANC activist Alfred Bitini Xuma. Becoming president of the ANC Women's
League put Hall Xuma at the forefront of fighting racial discrimination
as South Africa moved toward apartheid. Hendricks provides the
long-overlooked context for the events that undergirded Hall Xuma's life
and work. As she shows, a confluence of history, ideas, and
organizations both shaped Hall Xuma and centered her in the histories of
Black women and women's activism, and of South Africa and the United
States.