Papers of Noni Jabavu

* Copy of Noni Jabavu's testimony given to the United Nations' Commission on the racial situation in South Africa, 5 August 1953.
* 'A black girl's travels in search of Africa' - article by Jabavu from Concord, October 1956.
* A set of family photographs, with copies of the notes written by Miss Jabavu on the backs of the photographs.

Helen Nontandu (Noni) Jabavu was the granddaughter of John Tengo Jabavu, the first African to own and edit a newspaper in the Cape, and the daughter of Davidson D T Jabavu, a Professor at Fort Hare College from 1916. She was a pupil at Lovedale Missionary Institution and (from the age of 14) the Mount School, York, UK. She became one of the first African women to pursue a successful literary career and the first black South African woman to publish books of autobiography. She was the author of Drawn in Colour (London: John Murray, 1960) and The Ochre People (London: John Murray, 1963). In 1968 she was elected to chair the 21st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women: the first African woman to hold that post. She married the English film director, Michael Crosfield in 1951 and after years living in Uganda moved to the UK with her husband, and also spent time in Jamaica.

Gifted by Noni Jabavu to the Centre for Southern African Studies, September 1975.

Helen Nontandu (Noni) Jabavu was the granddaughter of John Tengo Jabavu, the first African to own and edit a newspaper in the Cape, and the daughter of Davidson D T Jabavu, a Professor at Fort Hare College from 1916. She was a pupil at Lovedale Missionary Institution and (from the age of 14) the Mount School, York, UK. She became one of the first African women to pursue a successful literary career and the first black South African woman to publish books of autobiography. She was the author of Drawn in Colour (London: John Murray, 1960) and The Ochre People (London: John Murray, 1963). In 1968 she was elected to chair the 21st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women: the first African woman to hold that post. She married the English film director, Michael Crosfield in 1951 and after years living in Uganda moved to the UK with her husband, and also spent time in Jamaica.

No copying of the photographs is permitted without prior permission.

* Borthwick Institute, University of York (GB 193 MOU): Records of The Mount School, York
* Documentation Centre for African Studies, University of South Africa: Jabavu Crosfield Collection
* Documentation Centre for African Studies, University of South Africa (Accession 47): DDT Jabavu Collection
* St John's College Library, University of Oxford (GB 473 RG/J/Jabavu): Noni Jabavu's correspondence with Beryl Graves, including reminiscences of visits to Deyá in the 1960s, of childhood, and family news, 1986-1989.

Miss Jabavu's testimony to the United Nations Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa (UNCORS) (given as Mrs Michael Crosfield) is held in the UN Archives, in the records of the Department of Political Affairs (series reference S-0724-0004-04).

* Jabavu's notes that accompany the photographs reference people and events described in her second memoir, The Ochre People: Scenes from a South African Life (London, Murray, 1963).
* More background on Noni Jabavu and her time in York, can be found in recorded York Festival of Ideas event on 'Noni Jabavu: Black Briton, South African' (June 2021). The event shone a spotlight on the black British-South African writer and made use of archival sources held at the Borthwick Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7xv6dL0F7c

Published