Helen Suzman
7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009
Helen Suzman was a South African politician who sat in the House of Assembly from 1953 to 1989. For thirteen years, from 1961 to 1974, she was the sole Progressive Party member of parliament and used that seat to question apartheid legislation, detention without trial and prison conditions. She visited political prisoners including Nelson Mandela on Robben Island and was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Helen Suzman.
- Qian Xuesen (1911–2009) Overlapped 92 years →
- Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) Overlapped 92 years →
- Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) Overlapped 92 years →
- M.F. Husain (1915–2011) Overlapped 92 years →
- Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) Overlapped 92 years →
- Eiji Toyoda (1913–2013) Overlapped 92 years →
Life events
Born to Jewish immigrant parents from Lithuania.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgTook a degree in economics and economic history and later lectured there.
Married the physician Moses Suzman; the couple had two daughters.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgEntered parliament as a United Party member for the Johannesburg constituency of Houghton.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBroke away with eleven other MPs over the party's stance on African land policy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHeld the party's sole seat for thirteen years, opposing apartheid legislation from the floor of the House.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgInspected the prison and met Nelson Mandela and other detainees, raising their treatment in parliament.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgStood down shortly before the negotiations that ended apartheid began.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgReceived the honorary damehood from the United Kingdom in recognition of her parliamentary record.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDied at her home in Johannesburg at the age of 91.
Source: en.wikipedia.org