THE BAMS OF GRASSLANDS FARM, a family history

A history of four generations of the Bam family from Goqwana, near Tsolo, in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape. It covers the years 1880 to 2011, and focuses on six brothers and sisters and their ancestors, particularly on brother and sister Fikile and Brigalia Bam.

Fikile Bam (1937-2011) spent 10 years as a political prisoner on Robben Island. After his release he practised as an attorney. He served as Acting Chairman for Lawyers for Human Rights, Deputy Chairman of the Vista University Council, Deputy Chairman of the University of the Witwatersrand Council and Chairman of the Transkei Bar.

Former teacher and Christian social activist Brigalia Bam (b. 1933) has served as Executive Programme Secretary for the Women’s Department of the World Council of Churches, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, President of the Women’s Development Foundation, Chancellor of the former University of Port Elizabeth, and Chancellor of Walter Sisulu University.

Historian Seán Morrow has taught at schools and universities in Ireland, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho and South Africa. He is co-author (with Brown Maaba and Loyiso Pulumani) of Education in Exile: SOMAFCO, the African National Congress School in Tanzania, 1978 to 1992, and author of The Fires Beneath: The Life of Monica Wilson.