# William Modisane
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{{Short description|South African writer, actor and journalist (1923–1986)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use South African English|date=May 2012}}
{{infobox person
| name = William Modisane
| birth_date = {{birth date text|28 August 1923}}
| death_date = {{death-date and age|1 March 1986|28 August 1923}}
| years_active = 1923–1986
| birth_place = South Africa
| occupation = Writer, journalist, actor
}}
{{Apartheid}}
'''William Modisane''' (28 August 1923 – 1 March 1986), better known as '''Bloke Modisane''', was a South African writer, actor and [journalist](/source/journalist).
==Biography==
William "Bloke" Modisane, the eldest son of Joseph and Ma-Willie Modisane,[Nelly E Sonderling (ed.), ''New Dictionary of South African Biography'', Vol. 2, HSRC Press, 1999, pp. 112–14.] grew up in [Sophiatown](/source/Sophiatown), a multiracial suburb in [Johannesburg](/source/Johannesburg), South Africa. His father was murdered and his sister died of [malnutrition](/source/malnutrition). To make ends meet, his mother ran a [shebeen](/source/shebeen). As Modisane would write in his autobiography: "My mother wanted a better life for her children, a kind of insurance against poverty by trying to give me a prestige profession, and if necessary would go to jail whilst doing it."[[http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/william-bloke-modisane Biography of William "Bloke" Modisane, South African History Online.]] Modisane was also the [jazz](/source/jazz) critic at ''Drum'''s sister publication, the weekly tabloid ''Golden City Post''.[{{Cite web|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/modisane-wb.htm|title=William 'Bloke' Modisane|access-date=3 December 2007|publisher=S A History}}]
Modisane tried to facilitate non-racial progress in the arts by making concerts and theatre available to Black audiences and tried to further the efforts of the Arts Federation and the Union of South African Artists, both of which were non-racial.
He wrote a number of short stories that were published in ''Drum''. One such story, "The Situation", derived from the [Tsotsitaal](/source/Tsotsitaal) (slang) for educated Blacks who rise above their station (i.e. situated above their station) but do not really fit into their new milieu. ([Don Mattera](/source/Don_Mattera) mentioned this when describing the journalists: "There was a definite [class division](/source/class_division). We were in the streets, and they were in the desks. And we used to call such people ''situations''.")[{{Cite web|url=http://blog.leapingrabbit.ca/2006/03/|title=Tsotsi|access-date=2007-02-23|publisher=Leaping Rabbit|archive-date=6 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206101337/http://blog.leapingrabbit.ca/2006/03/|url-status=dead}}]
Modisane found an outlet in acting. He joined the African Theatre Workshop and played in the first production of [Athol Fugard](/source/Athol_Fugard)'s ''No-Good Friday'' (1958).[{{Cite book|url=http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/15920.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107061220/http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/15920.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 November 2004|chapter=William (Bloke) Modisane |access-date=2007-02-23|title=Companion to African Literature |author=Douglas Killam and Ruth Rowe (eds) }}]
He shared the writing credits on ''[Come Back, Africa](/source/Come_Back%2C_Africa)'', a 1959 film filmed mainly in [Sophiatown](/source/Sophiatown).
Becoming frustrated by the political situation and oppression under the [apartheid](/source/apartheid) regime, Modisane moved in 1959 to England, where in 1963 his [autobiography](/source/autobiography), ''Blame Me on History'', was published. This detailed his despair at the bulldozing of Sophiatown (mirroring [Can Themba](/source/Can_Themba)'s short story "Requiem for Sophiatown") and his frustration and anger with apartheid. As a result, the book was [banned](/source/banned) in South Africa in 1966.
Modisane continued acting and had a leading role in [Jean Genet](/source/Jean_Genet)'s play ''[The Blacks](/source/The_Blacks_(play))'' at the [Royal Court Theatre](/source/Royal_Court_Theatre) in [London](/source/London).