| Orlando East Public Library | |
|---|---|
 Orlando East Public Library | |
 | |
| Location | Mooki Street, Orlando East, South Africa |
| Type | Public library |
| Established | 1948 |
| Branch of | Johannesburg Libraries |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | Soweto |
Orlando East Public Library is the oldest library in Soweto in South Africa.
The library is said to have started in two iron huts in 1948 that lacked both electricity and seating. [1]
The library was housed in the first building in Soweto designed to be a public library in 1950. It was built on Mooki Street by people from the local Vocational Training Centre and impressively it was larger than other public library then available in the main city of Johannesburg. It was probably the most important library for Africans in South Africa at the time. [2] In 2012 the libraries in Soweto said they had nearly fifty thousand members. [3]
The Library's collection was given a substantial gift in 1963 when Madie Hall Xuma, the American born widow of Dr. A.B.Xuma who had been a President of the African National Congress during the 1940s, gave his book collection to the library. Her husband had died in 1962 and she moved back to the United States. [4] Madie Hall Xuma had also been active in South African politics becoming president of the national council of the South African Young Women's Christian Association. [5]
In 2000 the library was updated and extended. In 2013 a blue plaque was installed to recognise the library's importance as the oldest public library. [2]
The library has good signage and still has spacious accommodation. It attracts students to study with its "fairly full" shelves and a good reference section that includes textbooks. Upstairs there is a media centre and an area reserved for children's books. [3] The library offered free internet access in 2013. [1]
Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa with 4,803,262 people, and is classified as a megacity; it is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located within the mineral-rich Witwatersrand hills, the epicentre of the international-scale mineral, gold and (specifically) diamond trade.
Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu OMSG was a South African anti-apartheid activist, and the wife of fellow activist Walter Sisulu (1912–2003). She was affectionately known as "Ma Sisulu" throughout her lifetime by the South African public. In 2004 she was voted 57th in the SABC3's Great South Africans. She died on 2 June 2011 in her home in Linden, Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 92.
Alfred Bathini Xuma, OLG, commonly referred to by his initials as AB Xuma, was the first black South African to become a medical doctor, as well as a leader, activist and president-general of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1940 to 1949. He was a member of the African American founded Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University. Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU. As a result of the merger of Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), it is common for alumni to refer to the university as RAU. The vice-chancellor and principal of UJ is Professor Letlhokwa George Mpedi who took office on 1 January 2023. Between 2018 and 2022, UJ's vice-chancellor and principal was Tshilidzi Marwala.
Sophiatown, also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and artists, like Father Huddleston, Can Themba, Bloke Modisane, Es'kia Mphahlele, Arthur Maimane, Todd Matshikiza, Nat Nakasa, Casey Motsisi, Dugmore Boetie, and Lewis Nkosi.
The suburbs of Johannesburg are officially demarcated areas within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. As in other Commonwealth countries, the term suburb refers to a "neighbourhood", although in South Africa most "suburbs" have legally recognised borders and often separate postal codes. The municipal functions for the area, such as municipal policing and social services, are still managed by the city government.
The Soweto uprising was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976.
Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA is a historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Zephania Lekoame Mothopeng was a South African political activist and member of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC).
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province in South Africa.
Meadowlands Secondary School is a government secondary school in Meadowlands a section of Soweto.
The James Mpanza House is a simple house in Orlando near Johannesburg. James Mpanza was a champion for the rights of black South Africans to have homes. His house was where he and his family lived and it was also a place of public meetings and informal courts.
Naledi High School is a government secondary school at 892 Nape Street in Soweto. The school took an important role at the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
The Tutu House is a house on Vilakazi Street in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, that was the home to Desmond and Leah Tutu. The house is registered as part of Johannesburg's historical heritage.
Moletsane High School is a government secondary school in Soweto, South Africa. Founded in 1972 it became a secondary school in 1976. Students from the school were involved in the Soweto Uprising in 1976. The school's public/private partnership and the school's improvements in its results were praised by the South African Minister for Education.
Dr. Xuma's house was one of two houses to escape the destruction of Sophiatown, South Africa by the government in the late 1950s, it is also a landmark which belonged to Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma who was a medical doctor and the President of the African National Congress (ANC) and Chairperson of the Western Areas Anti-Expropriation and Proper Housing Committee. Construction of the house was completed in 1935 and named Empilweni which roughly translates to "the place of life". Xuma and his second wife Madie Hall Xuma lived there until his own property was expropriated when Sophiatown was declared a White area in terms of the Native Resettlement Act of 1954, and he had vacated it by 1957.
Madie Hall Xuma was an African American educator and social activist who emigrated to South Africa. She was called a 'mother of the nation'. Her husband, A.B. Xuma, was a president of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1940 to 1949.
Kagiso Patrick "Pat" Mautloa is a multi-media visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) is an affiliate of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and supports 11 progressive congregations. Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler, a founder of Reform Judaism in the country, led the country's first Reform synagogue, Temple Israel in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Weiler is credited with growing the movement, to represent 15-17% of South African Jewry and establishing 25 congregations in the country. A 2020 joint study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the University of Cape Town showed that 12% of Jews identified as Progressive and that in relative terms the progressive strands are increasing after falling to 7% in 1998 and 2005 studies. In Johannesburg, the community accounts for 7% of the city's Jewry, rising to 18% in Cape Town and 25% in Durban.
