Bantu Men's Social Centre - Revision history

Darryl: /* Sources */

2025-12-30T18:02:42Z

Sources

Darryl: /* The BMSC and theatre */

2025-12-30T17:55:24Z

The BMSC and theatre

Darryl at 17:52, 30 December 2025

2025-12-30T17:52:22Z

Miriamt at 15:29, 17 March 2015

2015-03-17T15:29:53Z

Miriamt at 12:52, 5 July 2014

2014-07-05T12:52:15Z

Centaps: /* Foundation and history */

2011-01-03T06:16:00Z

Foundation and history

Centaps: /* The BMSC and theatre */

2010-12-22T04:08:43Z

The BMSC and theatre

Centaps: /* The BMSC and theatre */

2010-12-22T04:03:43Z

The BMSC and theatre

Centaps: Created page with "A recreation Centre for Bantu (Black) men founded in 1924 and sustained by white philanthropists and black professionals and teachers from the 1920s to the 1950s as a gathering p..."

2010-12-22T04:02:15Z

Created page with "A recreation Centre for Bantu (Black) men founded in 1924 and sustained by white philanthropists and black professionals and teachers from the 1920s to the 1950s as a gathering p..."

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A recreation Centre for Bantu (Black) men founded in 1924 and sustained by white philanthropists and black professionals and teachers from the 1920s to the 1950s as a gathering point for the social, political and cultural elite of the black urban community.

== Foundation and history ==

The Bantu Men's Social Centre was started by Rev. Ray E. Phillips (1889-1967) of the American Board Mission in central Johannesburg for recreational activities by black South Africans. Phillips was a Congregational minister who in 1918 came to South Africa from the United States with Dora, his wife (1892-1967). During the forty years that the Phillipses spent in South Africa, Ray helped found a number of organizations to assist black South Africans, or to foster racial co-operation. Firmly opposed to segregation, Phillips was involved in the founding of the South African Institute for Race Relations (1929), the Johannesburg Coordinating Council for Non-European Welfare Organization, and the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work (1941), of which he was the director. The Hofmeyr School provided training for black social workers, among whom Winnie Madikizela, before her marriage to Nelson Mandela.[1] Political activists like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (1912-2003) were members of the Bantu Men's Social Centre, and the African National Congress's Youth League was started on its premises in 1944.[2]

== The Centre ==

The Social Centre was located at 1 Eloff Street at the edge of Johannesburg's central business district, among car dealerships and cheap food stores. Apart from a gymnasium, the Social Centre building featured a stage. Next door was [[Dorkay House]], a former clothing factory and eventual home to the [[South African Union of Artists]] (later known as [[Union Artists]]).

== The BMSC and theatre ==

Various plays were presented to a variety of audiences on the Social Centre's stage. In 1938, for example, [[H.I.E. Dhlomo]] presented ''[[Moshoeshoe]]'', a drama about the baSotho king,[12] performed in English. A large racially-mixed audience watched the all African cast that included Dhlomo.

A farewell concert was held at the Social Centre in 1956 for Father Trevor Huddleston, the missionary priest of Sophiatown.[18]

In 1958 Athol Fugard's No-Good Friday was performed, showing for the first time the reality of black South Africans. Fugard held auditions at the Bantu Men's Social Centre which drew only males, who were either members of the Centre or musicians from Union Artists.[21] The cast included Fugard, who also directed, and first-time actors Stephen Moloi, Connie Mabaso, Dan Poho, Ken Gampu, Zakes Mokae, Preddie Ramphele, Bloke Modisane, and Gladys Sibisi.[22] The African Feeding Fund, through its white chairman, Hugh Tatham, was the sponsor. The audience comprised mostly black Africans. The only whites present were Tatham and his committee, actor and critic Bill Brewer, and acting teacher Benedicta Bonnacorsi.[23]

On June 8, 1959 Fugard's ''[[Nongogo]]'' was performed by a cast comprising Cornelius Mabaso, David Phetoe, Solomon Rachilo, Thandi Khumalo and Zakes Mokae.[24][25] The significance of Fugard's racially-mixed plays at the Social Centre is that at the time other theatre venues prohibited racially-mixed casts.[26]

The Social Centre offered performances and training in jazz and classical music in the late 1950s. One room held a number of gramophones which members could listen and practice music to.[27] Eric Gallo, chair of Gallo Africa record company, donated musical instruments to the Social Centre.

Alan Cobley (1997) relates that membership declined during the apartheid era. In line with the Group Areas Act the Bantu Men's Social Centre was forced to close on December 31, 1971. The West Rand Administration Board occupied the building from 1973. Appeals by the Centre's executive committee for a building in Soweto fell on deaf ears. The Bantu Men's Social Centre issued its final report in 1975.

A social centre and venue in downtown Johannesburg, situated in Eloff Street Extension, adjacent to [[Dorkay House]], founded in 1924 and sustained by white philanthropists and black professionals and teachers from the 1920s to the 1950s as a gathering point for the social, political and cultural elite of the black urban community.
in 1934 it housed the [[National Thanksgiving]] (or [[Emancipation Centenary Celebration]]), which [according to [[Loren Kruger]], 1999] in a sense gave rise to the notion of the “New African” in South African Black culture.

Numerous local works by such divergent writers as Dhlomo and Fugard were performed here over the years. For example [[Brian Brooke]] presented the grand dame of the English theatre, Dame [[Sybil Thorndike]] in a series of drama and poetry recitals with her husband, Sir [[Lewis Casson]]. They played for a black audience at the [[Bantu Men’s Social Centre]] in 1956. John Bolon staged a concert at the [[Bantu Men’s Social Centre]] in 1953, in a fund raising attempt for Father Trevor Huddleston. ''[[No-Good Friday]]'', [[Athol Fugard]]’s first play, was staged here in conjunction with the [[Union of Southern African Artists]]. Fugard himself appeared in the play, together with his black cast – [[Bloke Modisane]], [[Dan Poho]], [[Steve Moloi]], [[Ken Gampu]], [[Gladys Sibisa]] and [[Zakes Mokae]] in 1958.

== Sources ==

[[Percy Tucker]], 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_Men's_Social_Centre

== For more information ==

See the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_Men's_Social_Centre

== Return to ==

Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Venues|South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc ]]

Return to [[The ESAT Entries]]

Return to [[Main Page]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:02, 30 December 2025
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	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_Men's_Social_Centre		http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_Men's_Social_Centre
		+
		+	[[Robert Mshengu Kavanagh]]. "The Development of Theatre in South Africa up to 1976 - Anti-Apartheid Literature." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg Lawrence J. Trudeau, Vol. 162. Gale Cengage, 2005.

	== For more information ==		== For more information ==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 In 1958 Athol Fugard's No-Good Friday was performed, showing for the first time the reality of black South Africans. Fugard held auditions at the Bantu Men's Social Centre which drew only males, who were either members of the Centre or musicians from Union Artists.[21] The cast included Fugard, who also directed, and first-time actors Stephen Moloi, [[Connie Mabaso]], Dan Poho, Ken Gampu, Zakes Mokae, Preddie Ramphele, Bloke Modisane, and Gladys Sibisi.[22] The African Feeding Fund, through its white chairman, Hugh Tatham, was the sponsor. The audience comprised mostly black Africans. The only whites present were Tatham and his committee, actor and critic Bill Brewer, and acting teacher Benedicta Bonnacorsi.[23]
-On June 8, 1959 Fugard's ''[[Nongogo]]'' was performed by a cast comprising [[Cornelius Mabaso]], David Phetoe, Solomon Rachilo, Thandi Khumalo and Zakes Mokae.[24][25] The significance of Fugard's racially-mixed plays at the Social Centre is that at the time other theatre venues prohibited racially-mixed casts.[26]
+On June 8, 1959 Fugard's ''[[Nongogo]]'' was performed by a cast comprising [[Cornelius Mabaso]], David Phetoe, [[Sol Rachilo|Solomon Rachilo]], Thandi Khumalo and [[Zakes Mokae]].[24][25] The significance of Fugard's racially-mixed plays at the Social Centre is that at the time other theatre venues prohibited racially-mixed casts.[26]
 The Social Centre offered performances and training in jazz and classical music in the late 1950s. One room held a number of gramophones which members could listen and practice music to.[27] Eric Gallo, chair of Gallo Africa record company, donated musical instruments to the Social Centre.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 in 1934 it housed the [[National  Thanksgiving]]  (or [[Emancipation Centenary Celebration]]), which [according to [[Loren Kruger]], 1999] in a sense gave rise to the notion of the “New African” in South African Black culture.
-Numerous local works by such divergent writers as Dhlomo and Fugard were performed here over the years. For example [[Brian Brooke]] presented the grand dame of the English theatre, Dame [[Sybil Thorndike]] in a series of drama and poetry recitals with her husband, Sir [[Lewis Casson]]. They played for a black audience at the [[Bantu Men’s Social Centre]] in 1956. John Bolon staged a concert at the [[BMSC]] in 1953, in a fund raising attempt for Father Trevor Huddleston. ''[[No-Good Friday]]'', [[Athol Fugard]]’s first play, was staged here in conjunction with the [[Union of Southern African Artists]]. Fugard himself appeared in the play, together with his black cast – [[Bloke Modisane]], [[Dan Poho]], [[Steve Moloi]], [[Ken Gampu]], [[Gladys Sibisa]] and [[Zakes Mokae]] in 1958.
+Numerous local works by such divergent writers as Dhlomo and Fugard were performed here over the years. For example [[Brian Brooke]] presented the grand dame of the English theatre, Dame [[Sybil Thorndike]] in a series of drama and poetry recitals with her husband, Sir [[Lewis Casson]]. They played for a black audience at the [[BMSC]] in 1956. John Bolon staged a concert at the [[BMSC]] in 1953, in a fund raising attempt for Father Trevor Huddleston. ''[[No-Good Friday]]'', [[Athol Fugard]]’s first play, was staged here in conjunction with the [[Union of Southern African Artists]]. Fugard himself appeared in the play, together with his black cast – [[Bloke Modisane]], [[Dan Poho]], [[Steve Moloi]], [[Ken Gampu]], [[Gladys Sibisa]] and [[Zakes Mokae]] in 1958.
 == Sources ==

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 == The BMSC and theatre ==
-Various plays were presented to a variety of audiences on the Social Centre's stage. In 1938, for example, [[H.I.E. Dhlomo]] presented ''[[Moshoeshoe]]'', a drama about the baSotho king,[12] performed in English. A large racially-mixed audience watched the all African cast that included Dhlomo.
+Drama did not begin there as an organized activity until 1933, when the [[Bantu Dramatic Society]] was formed ‘to encourage Bantu playwrights and to develop African dramatic art because Bantu life is full of great and glorious incidents and figures that would form the basis of first-class drama’. Their first production, however, was Goldsmith's ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'', followed by ''[[Nongqause]]'', a play written in Xhosa by a white woman, [[Mary Waters]]. Oscar Wilde's ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]'' came next. It is possible that the society also performed ''[[Iziganeko zomKristu]]'', an adaptation in Xhosa of Pilgrim's Progress. In 1938, [[H.I.E. Dhlomo]] presented ''[[Moshoeshoe]]'', a drama about the baSotho king,[12] performed in English. A large racially-mixed audience watched the all African cast that included Dhlomo.
 A farewell concert was held at the Social Centre in 1956 for Father Trevor Huddleston, the missionary priest of Sophiatown.[18]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == The Centre ==
 The Social Centre was located at 1 Eloff Street at the edge of Johannesburg's central business district, among car dealerships and cheap food stores. Apart from a gymnasium, the Social Centre building featured a stage. Next door was [[Dorkay House]], a former clothing factory and eventual home to the [[South African Union of Artists]] (later known as [[Union Artists]]).
 == The BMSC and theatre ==
@@ Line 41: / Line 39: @@
 == Return to ==
 Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Venues|South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc ]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 == Foundation and history ==
-The Bantu Men's Social Centre was started by Rev. Ray E. Phillips (1889-1967) of the American Board Mission in central Johannesburg for recreational activities by black South Africans. Phillips was a Congregational minister who in 1918 came to South Africa from the United States with Dora, his wife (1892-1967). During the forty years that the Phillipses spent in South Africa, Ray helped found a number of organizations to assist black South Africans, or to foster racial co-operation. Firmly opposed to segregation, Phillips was involved in the founding of the South African Institute for Race Relations (1929), the Johannesburg Coordinating Council for Non-European Welfare Organization, and the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work (1941), of which he was the director. The Hofmeyr School provided training for black social workers, among whom Winnie Madikizela, before her marriage to Nelson Mandela.[1] Political activists like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (1912-2003) were members of the Bantu Men's Social Centre, and the African National Congress's Youth League was started on its premises in 1944.[2]
+The Bantu Men's Social Centre was started by Rev. [[Ray E. Phillips]] (1889-1967) of the American Board Mission in central Johannesburg for recreational activities by black South Africans. Phillips was a Congregational minister who in 1918 came to South Africa from the United States with Dora, his wife (1892-1967). During the forty years that the Phillipses spent in South Africa, Ray helped found a number of organizations to assist black South Africans, or to foster racial co-operation. Firmly opposed to segregation, Phillips was involved in the founding of the South African Institute for Race Relations (1929), the Johannesburg Coordinating Council for Non-European Welfare Organization, and the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work (1941), of which he was the director. The Hofmeyr School provided training for black social workers, among whom Winnie Madikizela, before her marriage to Nelson Mandela.[1] Political activists like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (1912-2003) were members of the Bantu Men's Social Centre, and the African National Congress's Youth League was started on its premises in 1944.[2]
 == The Centre ==