Tsepo Tiisetso Letlaka was born in 1925 in the Transkei,Cofimvaba, where his parents were both teachers, he studied at St. John's College, Healdtown, Roma, and Fort Hare, where he was president of the Student Representatives' Council in 1950. Letlaka joined the Youth League at Fort Hare and was the league's first president for the Cape Province, from 1951 until 1954.

Lesedi Billy Masetlha was born on 21 November 1954 in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng).He was one of the six children in a family with roots in the northern Transvaal.His parents  adhered to the Bahai faith,he was able to mix freely with people of other races and to observe independent Africa when the family attended religious meetings in Swaziland and Botswana in the late 1960s.As a student at Orlando High School in the early 1970s,Masetlha absorberd black consciousness ideas and became a leader in the South African Students' Movement.He was involved in the nascent Nat

 Kgalabi Jafta Masemola, “The Tiger of Azania”, also popularly known as “Bra Jeff” by many others, was born at Bon Accord near Pretoria on 12 December 1931. He lost both his parents at an early age and was raised by his sister. The family moved to Marabastad and then to Atteridgeville in 1942 where he enrolled at De Jong Primary School and completed standard six in 1947. He proceeded to Hofmeyr Secondary School where he obtained a Junior Certificate in 1950.

Samuel Makama Martin Masabalala was born in 6th December 1877, in Uniondale in the Cape and was educated in Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. He worked for some years in Rhodesia and served in an African unit in the Boer War. Thereafter he worked at various times as a teacher, battery driver and electrician, and pharmacist's employee. Moving to Port Elizabeth in 1914, he became the leader of a workers' association that later merged into the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).

Peter Rudolf Gisela Horn was born 7 December 1934 in Teplice, Czechoslovakia (currently in Czech Republic). At the end of World War II he had to flee his home and settled with his parents first in Bavaria and later in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he completed high school in 1954. He then immigrated with his parents to South Africa.

Griffiths Mlungisi Mxenge, the eldest son of Johnson Pinti and Hannah Nowise Mxenge, was born in 1935. His parents were well-respected peasant farmers of Rayi, a small rural settlement located  five kilometres from King Williams Town, in the Eastern Province (now Eastern Cape). After Mxenge’s primary education at a local school, he obtained his secondary education at Forbes Grant Secondary School in Ginsburg, King Williams Town. In 1956, he matriculated from Newell High School also in Ginsburg.

John Beaver (JB) Marks was born on 21 March 1903, Ventersdorp, Western Transvaal (now North West Province).  His father was a railway worker and his mother, a midwife. His father was a staunch supporter of the African National Congress (ANC).In 1921, his parents succeeded in getting him enrolled at the Kilnerton Teachers` Training College in Pretoria where he received a diploma in teaching. Marks participated in a strike with other students because conditions were not good at his college.

Mhlabunzima Maphumulo was born on 6th September,1949 Maqongqo distric of Kwazulu-Natal . At the age of 24, Maphumulo inherited the role of Chief of the Maphumulo tribe from his father.

Harold Wolpe was born on 14 January 1926 in Johannesburg to a Lithuanian Jewish family. Wolpe graduated with a BA in Social Studies in 1949 and an LLB in 1952 from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, where he was President of the Student Representative Council and a leading activist in the National Union of South African Students.

Thomas Madikwe Manthata was born November 29,1939 in Soekmekaar in the Northern Transvaal.His parents had no formal education.He completed teacher trainiong,taught primary school for three years and made a detour throgh Catholic seminary but was expelled after several years for being too political inclined.