Family and Education
Sisulu was born in Engcobo in the Union of South Africa. His mother Alice Mase Sisulu was a Xhosa domestic worker and his father, Albert Victor Dickenson, was white. Dickenson worked in the Railway Department of the Cape Colony from 1903 to 1909 and was transferred to the Office of the Chief Magistrate in Umtata in 1910. His mother was related to Evelyn Mase, Nelson Mandela's first wife. Dickenson didn't play a part in his son's upbringing, and the boy and his sister, Rosabella, were raised by his mother's family, who were descended from the Thembu clan.
Educated in a local missionary school, he left in 1926 to find work. He moved to Johannesburg in 1928 and experienced a wide range of manual jobs.
He married Albertina in 1944, Nelson Mandela was best man at their wedding. The couple had five children, and adopted four more. Sisulu's wife and children were also active in the struggle against apartheid.
An adopted daughter, Beryl Rose Sisulu, served as ambassador from the Republic of South Africa to Norway.
Read more about this topic: Walter Sisulu
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