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  • 30 of South African singer and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba's most beloved songs, “Mama Africa” is a feast for the eyes and ears.
  • South African singing legend Miriam Makeba first came to the U.S. in 1959 for a gig at the Village Vanguard, then New York's hippest jazz.
  • Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist.

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    𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗯𝗮 (Zenzile Miriam Makeba: March 4, 1932 – Nov 9, 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award-winning South African singer and civil rights activist known for becoming the first African artist to globally popularize African music. She is best known for the song "Pata Pata", first recorded in 1957 and released in the U.S. in 1967. Along with Belafonte she received a Grammy Award for her 1965 album An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba.

    While traveling to London she met Harry Belafonte who helped her gain entry into the US as well as fame there. She recorded and toured with many popular artists, such as Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, and her former husband Hugh Masekela. Makeba campaigned against the South African system of apartheid. The South African government responded by revoking her passport in 1960 and her citizenship and right of return in 1963.

    After apartheid was disbanded in 1990, Makeba returned to South Africa after 30 years. She co

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    The cast of "Mama Africa" will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 in Jesse Auditorium. Photo courtesy Mama Africa.

    Story by Caroline Dohack
    Published Sept. 26, 2016

    In 1986, the issue of apartheid in South Africa rocked the campus. Students built and occupied a shantytown on Francis Quadrangle to symbolize the living conditions of black people in South Africa. They were protesting university investments in 54 companies with dealings in South Africa. At first, UM officials said they couldn’t divest holdings because, as a public institution, the university system had no place interfering with the operations of U.S. corporations. After the protests continued, the university divested part of its holdings. It would divest the remainder the following year.

    Building Bridges

    In addition to reassessing UM’s relationship with certain businesses, the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri in 1986 created a formal partnership with South Africa’s University of the Western Cape, at t

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    The return of Miriam Makeba

    South African singing legend Miriam Makeba first came to the U.S. in 1959 for a gig at the Village Vanguard, then New York's hippest jazz spot. Soon she was the toast of the town, attracting Miles Davis, Sidney Poitier and even Elizabeth Taylor and Bing Crosby to her shows.

    In 1960, as her mother lay dying, Makeba applied for a visa to return home for a visit, and was denied -- as she would be until the end of apartheid. In its clumsy attempt to marginalize the indefatigable singer, the white South African government inadvertently granted Makeba a three-decade run as black South Africa's de facto ambassador to the Western world, where she acquired the appellation "Mama Africa."

    Under the tutelage of Harry Belafonte, Makeba pleaded the case of her people to audiences across America during the height of this nation's civil rights struggle. In 1962, she performed at President Kennedy's famous birthday party in Madison Square Garden (also on the bill tha

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