Dennis Brutus is born

Dennis Vincent Brutus was born on 8 November 1924 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to South African parents. His parents moved back to South Africa and settled in Port Elizabeth. He studied law at both the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Fort Hare. Brutus, who is of African, Italian and French ancestry, was classified as Coloured under apartheid laws. In the 1960’s he joined the Anti-Coloured Affairs Department (Anti-CAD) and was instrumental in the campaign for the banning of South Africa from the Olympic Games. He was arrested in 1964 and fled to Britain upon his release. He later returned to South Africa and was inducted into the South African Sports Hall of Fame. At the time of his death in 2009, he had published 14 books. He is regarded as one of Africa’s most influential modern poets.