Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan

Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan ( 7 January 1920 – 17 July 2016) was a South African political activist and author. She and literary historian Archibald Campbell Jordan were the parents of politician Pallo Jordan.

Phyllis Priscilla “Nogqaza” Ntantala-Jordan was born on 7 January 1920 at Gqubeni, along the bends of the Nqabarha River, eDutywa in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Ntantala-Jordan's father, George Govan Ntantala was a prosperous farmer who served on the Transkei General Council, iBhunga and her mother, Ida Balfour, was a descendant of the earliest African Christian community, founded by the prophet Ntsikana during the second decade of the 19th century in the Eastern Cape. In describing her upbringing, Ntantala-Jordan said, "Like Trosky, I did not leave home without the proverbial one-and-six in my pocket. I came from a family of landed gentry in the Transkei". Ntantala-Jordan started her schooling at the tender age of four years. Six months later, she lost her mother. After completing Standard 6 (Grade 8),then aged 12, Ntantala-Jordan was sent to Healdtown. Healdtown was highly recommended to her father over Lovedale by her primary school principal Rhodes Cakata. Ntantala says at Healdtown students were treated equally despite their background and smaller than Lovedale. At 15, Ntantala was awarded the Transkeian Bhunga Scholarship to study at the University of Fort Hare. At the time, Fort Hare, although offering degrees, admitted students for matric studies. After completing her matric, she completed a teachers’ diploma at the University of Fort Hare in 1937. Ntantala-Jordan began working at Bantu High School in Kroonstad as a teacher in 1938. In 1939, Ntantala-Jordan married isiXhosa writer Archibald Campbell Jordan, whom she had met during her time at Fort Hare University.

...
Wikipedia