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Finding aid to the Abdullah Abdurahman (1872-1940) family papers (1906-1962)
Abstract: The Abdullah Abdurahman Family Papers contain materials from three members of the family; those of Abdullah Abdurahman (1872-1940), physician and political leader, and his wife, Mrs. Helen Abdurahman (1877?-1953), comprise half of the material and Dr. and Mrs. Abdurahman's daughter, Mrs. Zainunnissa Gool (1897-1963), political leader, the other half. Despite gaps, the Abdullah Abdurahman Family Papers provide an historical view of the Coloured population's struggle for political and economic equality in South Africa.
Biography : Abdullah Abdurahman (1872-1940)
Abdullah Abdurahman was born December 18, 1872 in Cape Town, South Africa and died on February 20, 1940 in Cape Town. He married Helen Potter James and they had two children, of whom the younger, Zainunnissa Abdurahman, like her father, was a prominent figure in Cape Town municipal affairs. After the dissolution of his first marriage, Dr. Abdurahman in 1925 married Margaret May Stansfield. They had a son and two daughters.
Dr. Abdurahman was educated at Marist Brothers School and the South African College School. In 1888 he went to Glasgow, Scotland where he obtained the M.B., Ch.M. medical degree in 1893.
In 1895 he returned to South Africa and acquired an extensive practice in Cape Town, among both Coloured and White people.
In 1904 he was elected to the Cape Town City Council, and was the first Coloured person to become a Councillor. Except for two years (1913-1915) he remained a member up to the time of his death. Dr. Abdurahman was also a member of the Cape Provincial Council from 1914 until his death, and was largely responsible in establishing a system of school medical instruction for the Cape Province.
In 1905 Dr. Abdurahman founded and was president of the South African Native and Coloured People's Organization, later known as the African People's Organization.
In 1909 he was a member of a delegation led by W.P. Schreiner to London. He was also a member of the Indian National Congress and in 1925 went to India to discuss the Indians' position in South Africa with the National Congress and Viceroy.
In 1934 he was appointed a member of the Coloured People's Fact-finding Commission and served an the Cape Coloured Commission of 1937.
At various times he served on several committees of the City Council of Cape Town, including the Public Works Committee, Public Health Committee, Streets and Depot Committee, Finance Committee, Markets and Gardens Committee, Electric Light, Waterworks and Fire Brigade Committee and the Public Works and Depot Committee.
Biography : Helen "Nellie" Abdurahman
Dr. Abdurahman's wife, Helen "Nellie" Abdurahman was a member of several Cape Town organizations, including the Cape Town and Wynberg General Board of Aid, the Ratepayer's Association, the Women's Municipal Association, the African People's Organization Women's Guild, Western Province Amateur Musical Society, the Women's Enfranchisement League and the National Liberation League Finance Committee.
Sources
Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa, Vol. 1, 1970 Dictionary of South African Biography, Vol. 1, 1968 Letter to Africana Curator, from Prof. Dr. P.L. Scholtz, Director of the I.H.R., dated April 8, 1976Biography : Zainunnissa Gool (1897-1963)
Mrs. Zainunnissa Gool was born in 1897 and died in 1963. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Abdullah Abdurahman. In 1919 she married Dr. Abdul Hamid Gool, a graduate of Guy's Hospital, London. They had three children, Rustum Gool, (1923- ), the other two names unknown.
Mrs. Gool was educated at the University of Cape Town, where she obtained her B.A. and M.A. degree in 1936.
In 1935 she was elected as president of the National Liberation League, an anti-segregation and anti-imperialist organization.
In 1938, Mrs. Gool was elected as president of the Non-European United Front, formed to coordinate organizations into an anti-segregation front.
Mrs. Gool was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1938, the first Non-European woman in the Union of South Africa to become a City Councillor, and served until her death in 1963. As City Councillor, she served on such committees as the Housing, Health and Public Committees, and fought for equality for Non-Europeans.
In 1943 she became a national executive member of the Anti-C.A.D. Organization and the Western Province Unity Movement. In the same year she was also a fraternal delegate to the South African Indian Congress Conference in Transvaal. In the 1940s Mrs. Gool was active in the Cape Passive Resistance Council.
