contributors' biographies

Bessie Head

"I was born on the sixth of July, 1937, in the Pietermaritzburg Mental Hospital. The reason for my peculiar birthplace was that my mother was white, and she had acquired me from a black man. She was judged insane and committed to the mental hospital while pregnant. Her name was Bessie Emery and I consider it the only honor South African officials ever did me-- naming me after this unknown, lovely, and unpredictable woman."

"At birth I had been handed to a Coloured foster mother to whom I became deeply attached and accepted as my mother. When I was thirteen the foster mother fell into a state of poverty and a decision was made to transfer me to a mission orphanage in Durban. The missionary opened a large file and looked at me with a wild horror and said: ' Your mother was insane. If you're not careful, you'll get insane just like your mother. Your mother was a white woman. They had to lock her up as she was having a child by the stable boy who was a native.' The lady seemed unaware of the appalling cruelty of her words."

In 1964, at age 27, Bessie Head moved to Botswana, where she eventually was awarded citizenship. She became one of Africa's leading writers. She died at the age of 49.

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