Sheena Duncan: strike a woman, strike a rock

Abstract

Sheena Duncan's immense contribution to the struggle against apartheid was recognised in Barbara Hutmacher MacLean's Strike a Woman, Strike a Rock: Fighting for Freedom in South Africa. The title of the book was taken from a famous Black Sash campaign slogan, and the book recognised the anti-apartheid resistance of many women, including those prominent in the Black Sash. The chapter on Duncan quotes her succinctly in the epigraph above. Duncan was born on 17 December 1932 in Johannesburg to Robert and Jean Sinclair. Her father, an accountant, was born in Scotland and came to South Africa after the First World War. His attitude to developments in South Africa was influenced by his views on the oppression caused by the land clearances in the Scottish highlands, which in turn profoundly influenced Duncan, particularly her attitudes to land ownership and the need for post-apartheid reparations. Her mother was involved in local politics, representing the United Party and Progressive Party, and was one of the six co-founders of the Black Sash on 19 May 1955. Named after the black sash worn during often silent street protests, the Black Sash was a group of white, middleclass South African women who assisted black South Africans and advocated the non-violent abolition of apartheid.