Bertha Mkhize

Bertha Mkhize was a South African teacher, who gained legal emancipation as a feme sole operating a business in her own right. As the government began implementing Apartheid in the late 1940s and early 1950s, she joined labor unions and women's organizations, leading demonstrations against the policies of the government. She was arrested twice for these activities and charged in the second incident with treason, but found not guilty of the allegations. When she was forced to give up her business, she became a pioneer in the Baháʼí Faith, embracing its doctrine of equality for all people. She worked to establish twenty-eight Baháʼí communities in KwaZulu-Natal.