Bertha Mkhize  Bertha Mkhize (6 June 1889 – 3 October 1981) 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. Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize was born on 6 June 1889 in Embo, near Umkomaas in the southern province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to Mashobane Mkhize, an oxcart driver. Around the age of four, Mkhize's father died and the family relocated to Inanda, where she enrolled in the Inanda Seminary School. She was one of the first students of the all-girls school. After completion of her studies at the seminary, she went on to graduate from Ohlange High School. In 1907, Mkhize began teaching at Inanda Seminary and remained there for the next four years. While she was teaching, she took tailoring classes to learn the skill. In 1909, she was legally emancipated. The process required her to appear before a magistrate with a signed document from her guardians granting her the right to conduct her affairs without her male family members' approval. This was an unusual procedure for Zulu women at the time and gave her the right to homestead or open her own business. In 1911, she left the teaching profession and moved to Durban where she went into tailoring with her brother. She continued with her interest in literacy, working in a children's center for twenty-five years. She also spoke out against oppressive measures used to undermine people's rights, like culling their cattle or forcing them and their owners to be plunged in pesticide under the guise of controlling typhus. At its organization, Mkhize joined the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) and became involved in women's rights issues, participating in marches in 1931 and 1936 against requirements for women to have travel passes. She also joined the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, campaigning against curfews, low wages, and other working restrictions.