In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1925
- Died
- 1982
- Birthplace
- Johannesburg
- Country
- South Africa
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Anti-apartheid journalism, research and the detention memoir 117 Days
Why this life matters
Ruth First combined investigative journalism with social research, moving from South African reporting and detention to universities and research in exile.
Timeline
Key moments
Detention
First spends 117 days in custody.
Memoir published
117 Days appears.
UN report
The committee includes her detention in its record.
Education and investigative reporting
Ruth First was born in Johannesburg in 1925 and studied sociology and social anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand. Student politics and membership of the Communist Party formed part of her early public life. She became an investigative journalist concerned with labour and living conditions under apartheid. Reporting required attention to institutions and everyday experience, a combination that also shaped her later work as a researcher rather than limiting her contribution to political speeches alone.
Trial, detention and an account of confinement
First was among the defendants in the treason trial that began in 1956; the defendants were eventually acquitted. In 1963 she experienced a separate period of detention lasting 117 days, much of it in solitary confinement. Her later book, 117 Days, appeared in 1965. The United Nations report records the duration and statutory context, while university accounts trace the memoir and her career. Detention, a criminal accusation and a conviction should not be treated as equivalent descriptions.
Research across countries and institutions
After leaving South Africa in 1964, First continued research and editorial work in Britain. She held a fellowship at Manchester and became a lecturer at Durham in 1973. She moved to Mozambique in 1977 and later directed research at the Centre of African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University. A letter bomb killed her in Maputo in August 1982. Her career connects journalism, the interpretation of political experience and collaborative social inquiry; exile changed the institutions through which she worked without ending her attention to southern Africa.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Ruth First
- What is Ruth First known for?
- Anti-apartheid journalism, research and the detention memoir 117 Days.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Robert Sobukwe
Compare a separate case in which a sentence and later detention had distinct legal bases.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.