Es'kia Mphahlele

Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature.

Bust of Es'kia Mphahlele by sculptor Angus Taylor, displayed in the Es'kia Mphahlele community library, Sammy Marks Center, Pretoria

Quotes

Down Second Avenue (1959)

• The Black man must enter the white man’s house through the back door. The Black man does most of the dirty work… Black man cleans the streets but mustn’t walk freely on the pavement; Black man must build houses for the white man but cannot live in them; Black man cooks the white man’s food but eats what is left over.
  • Eseki on the story he heard about about the black man and white man. Page 6

• We’d never really known father before. And now living close to him and seeing him at close quarters, I realised that his face was unlikeable.
  • Page 14

• You’ll come back and be able to look after yourself and the two you’re leaving behind.
  • Page 113

• The Black man must enter the white man’s house through the back door. The Black man does most of the dirty work…

• When they were not working they had children without being able to secure a man they could really call a husband.

• You’ll come back and be able to look after yourself and the two you’re leaving behind.