Zainunnisa Gool

Zainunnisa "Cissie" Gool
Born	(1897-11-06)6 November 1897
Died
Occupation	Law anti-apartheid political civil rights leader

Zainunnisa "Cissie" Gool (6 November 1897 – 1 July 1963) was an anti-apartheid political and civil rights leader in South Africa. She was the daughter of prominent physician and politician Abdullah Abdurahman. Cissie founded the National Liberation League and helped to create the Non-European United Front (NEUF). She was known and loved as the "Jewel of District Six" and "Joan of Arc" by South Africans as a champion of the poor.

Life

She was born on 6 November 1897 to Abdullah Abdul Rahman and Mary Potter.

Education

Cissie came from a radical background and she was tutored by both Olive Schreiner and Mahatma Gandhi. Cissie and her sister, Rosie, attended the Trafalgar High School in District Six in Cape Town. which had been founded by her father, an advocate of equality in public education. The head of the school was Harold Cressy who was championed by her father. She finished her secondary school education by a correspondence course at London University. With this qualification Cissie enrolled to become the first coloured woman to receive a master's degree from the University of Cape Town and in 1962, she became the first coloured female law graduate in South Africa and the first to be called to the Cape Bar.

Political work

Cissie was first elected to the Cape Town city council in 1938 on which she represented District Six, a historically diverse belt. Cissie maintained this post until 1951.

Family

Cissie was the daughter of Dr. Abdullah Abdurahman and his wife Helen James Potter. She married Dr. A. H. Gool, with whom she had three children, Marcina, and medical doctors Rustum and Shaheen.