Keorapetse Kgositsile facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Keorapetse Kgositsile
OIS
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Kgositsile in 2012
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Keorapetse William Kgositsile
19 September 1938 Johannesburg, South Africa
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| Died | 3 January 2018 (aged 79) Johannesburg, South Africa
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| Other names | Kgosi |
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| Years active | 1960–2018 |
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| Children | 5, including Thebe |
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| Pen name | Bra Willie |
| Genre | Jazz |
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Keorapetse William Kgositsile (born 19 September 1938 – died 3 January 2018), also known as Bra Willie, was a famous South African poet, journalist, and activist. He was a very important member of the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2006, he became South Africa's National Poet Laureate, which means he was officially recognized as the country's top poet.
Kgositsile lived away from South Africa, in the United States, from 1962 to 1975. This was when he wrote many of his best poems. He spent a lot of time learning about African-American culture and writing, especially about jazz music. In the 1970s, he was a key person among African-American poets. He encouraged them to learn about Africa and to perform their poems. He was well-known for his poetry readings in jazz clubs in New York City. Kgositsile was one of the first poets to connect African poetry with African-American poetry in the United States.
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Growing Up in South Africa
Kgositsile was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in a small house behind a larger one in a white neighborhood. His first experience with apartheid (a system of unfair laws that separated people by race) happened when he was young. He had to go to a different school because of his race.
Later, he had a fight with a white friend. This happened after his friend didn't want to join a boxing club that wouldn't let Kgositsile join because he was black. This event, and other times he felt excluded, made him understand more about apartheid as he grew older. For Kgositsile, becoming an adult meant facing the harsh reality of apartheid.
He went to Madibane High School in Johannesburg and other schools. During this time, he found books by famous writers like Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. He also liked European writers such as Charles Dickens. He started writing his own stories, but he didn't plan to become a professional writer yet.
After high school, he worked different jobs. Then, he started writing more seriously. He got a job at a newspaper called New Age, which was known for its political views. He wrote both news reports and poems for the newspaper. His early poems often combined beautiful language with strong messages about fighting for freedom. He felt it was very important to write about the struggles of his people. He believed that in a time of unfairness, writers had to either support the unfair system or help people become free.
Years Living Away From Home
In 1961, the government was trying to shut down New Age. The African National Congress (ANC), a group he strongly supported, asked Kgositsile to leave South Africa for his safety. He first went to Dar es Salaam to write for Spearhead magazine. The next year, he moved to the United States.
He studied at several universities, starting with Lincoln University. There, he spent a lot of time reading as many books by black writers as he could find. He also studied at the University of New Hampshire and The New School for Social Research. Later, he joined the writing program at Columbia University.
While at Columbia, he published his first book of poems, Spirits Unchained. It was very popular, and he won awards for his poetry. He finished his studies in 1971 and stayed in New York. He taught and gave his lively poetry readings in jazz clubs. His most important collection of poems, My Name is Afrika, came out that same year. This book, with an introduction by the famous poet Gwendolyn Brooks, made Kgositsile a leading African-American poet. A group of revolutionary poets even named themselves The Last Poets after one of his poems.
Jazz Music and Black Culture
Jazz music was very important to Kgositsile. It helped him understand black American culture and his own place in it. He saw many famous jazz musicians like John Coltrane, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday perform in New York. He wrote about them in his poems.
Jazz helped Kgositsile develop his idea of a worldwide African family. He believed that black people all over the world were connected by a special, shared sound. He wrote about a "black aesthetic," which was a way of seeing and creating art that was unique to black culture. He felt that this art was not just about beauty, but about movement, power, and feeling. He believed that freedom from white ways of thinking and finding this shared rhythm were both parts of the same fight for black people.
Black Theatre and Activism
Kgositsile also became involved in theatre in New York. He started the Black Arts Theatre in Harlem. He believed that black theatre was a way to bring about change. He thought it could help destroy old ways of thinking about black people, both by white people and by black people themselves. He wanted to create new symbols and ideas that would help black people move forward.
The Black Arts Theatre was part of a bigger plan to create a strong, brave black voice in literature. Kgositsile argued against the idea of "Négritude," which was a more artistic view of black culture. He felt it still relied on white ideas of art. This work happened while Kgositsile was teaching at Columbia in the early 1970s. He later worked briefly at Black Dialogue Magazine.
Coming Back to Africa
In 1975, Kgositsile decided to return to Africa, even though his career in the United States was going very well. He took a teaching job at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. In 1978, he married Baleka Mbete, another ANC member who was also living in Tanzania.
From exile, he continued his work with the ANC. He started its Department of Education in 1977 and its Department of Arts and Culture in 1983. He became Deputy Secretary in 1987. Kgositsile taught at several schools in different parts of Africa, including Kenya, Botswana, and Zambia. During this time, his books were banned in South Africa. But in 1990, the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW) published his book When the Clouds Clear in South Africa. This was his first book to be available in his home country.
Returning Home After Many Years
In July 1990, after 29 years away, Kgositsile finally returned to South Africa. The country was very different from when he left. Apartheid was beginning to end, and Nelson Mandela had been released from prison. However, it was still a confusing time, especially for the many black writers and artists who were returning home.
Even though he felt a bit distant from the country, he immediately got involved in politics and cultural activism again. He quickly pointed out that not enough had changed. Kgositsile was not afraid to criticize both black and white leaders for this. In the early 1990s, he was the vice president of COSAW. He helped young writers and continued to speak out about South African politics.
Kgositsile's later poems were more like conversations and perhaps less poetic than his earlier work. They were also calmer and more thoughtful, compared to his earlier strong nationalistic poems. They often spoke of doubt rather than certainty.
In 2009, Bra Willie was part of a tour in the UK called Beyond Words. He performed with other South African poets like Don Mattera and Lebo Mashile. In 2013, he was chosen as the Director of the Culture Department for the SA-China People's Friendship Association.
Kgositsile visited the United States several more times, including to teach at the New School. He was also on the editorial board of This Day newspaper in Johannesburg. He remained a very important figure in South African literature.
Family Life
His former wife, Baleka Mbete, was the Deputy President of South Africa and later the Speaker of the National Assembly. They married in 1978 while both were living in Tanzania. With Baleka, he had a son named Duma and a daughter named Nkuli.
His daughter Ipeleng, from an earlier marriage to Melba Johnson Kgositsile, is a journalist and writer. She has written for magazines like Vibe and Essence. He had another son, Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, with Cheryl Harris. Thebe is a law professor at University of California, Los Angeles. Thebe is also a well-known hip hop artist called Earl Sweatshirt. Kgositsile was featured on one of Earl Sweatshirt's songs after he passed away.
His Passing
Keorapetse Kgositsile died at the age of 79 on 3 January 2018, after a short illness. He passed away at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
Awards and Recognition
Kgositsile received many literary awards throughout his life. These include:
- The Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize
- The Harlem Cultural Council Poetry Award
- The Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Poetry Award
- The Herman Charles Bosman Prize
In 2008, Kgositsile was given the national Order of Ikhamanga Silver (OIS). This award was given to him "For excellent achievements in the field of literature and using these exceptional talents to expose the evils of the system of apartheid to the world."
