A doodle of the anti-apartheid activist was put on the company’s homepage on Thursday morning highlighting his work in resisting the racist apartheid regime.
FILE: Anti-apartheid activist and poet Mazisi Kunene’s google doodle. Picture: Google
JOHANNESBURG – Google Doodle is honouring South African poet Mazisi Kunene on what would’ve been his his 92nd birthday.
Google Doodle is a tool the search engine uses to call attention to world issues, historic events, and celebrations around the globe.
A doodle of the anti-apartheid activist was put on the company’s homepage on Thursday morning highlighting his work in resisting the racist apartheid regime.
Kunene’s literary works gained notoriety for exploring South African culture, religion and history in the context of colonialism, apartheid and slavery.
He was exiled in 1959 and fled to United Kingdom and later the US after the apartheid government reacted with violence against the resistance movement.
His work, as a result, was prohibited during this time.
Kunene’s notable poems include Emperor Shaka the Great – a story detailing the rise of the Zulu people under Shaka’s reign, _Anthem of the Decades _and The Ancestors and the Sacred Mountain all of which were published during exile.
He returned to South Africa in 1993 and was honoured by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as Africa’s poet laureate.
Kunene was later also made South Africa’s first post-apartheid poet laureate.
His foundation continues his legacy by nurturing Africa’s future generations of literary talent.
He passed away on 11 August 2006.
Happy birthday, Masizi Kunene!
Mazisi Kunenes poetry was so powerful that the apartheid government originally banned his work in South Africa. Still, he became South Africas first poet laureate.
Learn about his story https://t.co/qzfGCovhLt #GoogleDoodle pic.twitter.com/ShOFjiPapL
Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) May 12, 2022
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