Background
She was the daughter of prominent physician and politician Abdullah Abdurahman.
She was the daughter of prominent physician and politician Abdullah Abdurahman.
Cissie came from a radical background and she was tutored by both Olive Schreiner and Mahatma Gandhi. Cissie and her sister, Rosie, attended the Trafalgar High School in District Six in Cape Town. which had been founded by her father, an advocate of equality in public education. The head of the school was Harold Cressy who was championed by her father.
She finished her secondary school education by a correspondence course at London University.
With this qualification Cissie enrolled to become the first coloured woman to receive a master"s degree from the and in 1962, she became the first coloured female law graduate in South Africa and the first to be called to the Cape Bar.
Cissie founded the National Liberation League and helped to create the Non-European United Front (NEUF). She was born on 6 November 1897 to Abdullah Abdul Rahman and Mary Potter. which had been founded by her father, an advocate of equality in public education. Cissie was first elected to the Cape Town city council in 1938 on which she represented District Six, a historically diverse belt.
Cissie maintained this post until 1951.