Duncan, Sheena (1932–)

South African activist. Born Sheena Sinclair in 1932 in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa; dau. of Jean Sinclair (co-founding member of the Black Sash); attended Edinburgh College of Domestic Science (Scotland) where she qualified as a domestic science teacher (1953); m. a Johannesburg architect, 1955; children: 2.

White South African anti-apartheid activist, pacifist, and protester against capital punishment, who was twice-elected national president of the South African women's political group Black Sash which, under her leadership, shifted away from white women standing in silent protest outside government offices to assisting the black community with the convoluted apartheid laws that placed so many restrictions on their daily lives; joined the Black Sash as director of Johannesburg Legal Advice Office (1963); served 1st term as national president of Black Sash (1975–78); served for 3 years as chair of the Johannesburg Diocesan Challenge Group to eliminate racial discrimination within Anglican church; served 2nd term as national president of Black Sash (1983–86); arrested while praying in front of South African Parliament Building in memory of black mourners killed by police at a funeral (1985); called for international economic sanctions against South Africa (1986); elected vice-president of the South African Council of Churches (1987); organized legal advice centers in churches around the country in conjunction with the Family, Home and Life Division of the South African Council of Churches; appointed to South African Human Rights Commission (1988); as member of South African Council of Churches, called for moratorium on all pending capital punishment executions (1988); reelected National Advice Office Co-Ordinator for Black Sash (1990); appointed member of Independent Board for Inquiry into Informal Repression (1992).

See also Kathryn Spink, Black Sash: The Beginning of a Bridge in South Africa (Methuen, 1991); and Women in World History.