Lorna de Smidt
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- Teacher
- Activist
Lorna de Smidt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943 Kensington, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Died | 2022 (aged 78–79) England |
| Citizenship | South African; British |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1960s–2000s |
| Known for | Anti-apartheid activism |
| Movement | Black Consciousness Movement |
Lorna de Smidt (1943–2022) was a South African-born activist based in England.[1][2][3]
Lorna de Smidt was born in 1943 in Kensington, Cape Town to parents of mixed ancestry.[2][4] She was raised in Cape Town, South Africa.[2] At the age of four, she was admitted in a primary school, named Trafalgar High School.[4][2] She completed her graduation from Zonnebloem Teacher Training College in 1960 and subsequently became a teacher.[2][4]
Activism
In the 1960s, as a part of the Black Consciousness Movement, she became an anti-apartheid activist.[1] After emigrating to England in the 1970s, de Smidt joined the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group and helped organise the weekly protests outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square.[5] She also worked with the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), raising money for the legal defence of political prisoners and support for their families.[6]
Exile and career in English
After the Soweto riots of 1976 and her illegal marriage to a white man, she became a refugee in England and lived rest of her life there.[1][2] Between 1983 and 1991, de Smidt worked for the Lewisham Race Equality Unit.[4]
From 2000 to 2005, she worked on a restoration project of South Africa House, at the South African Embassy, London.[2]
