Charlotte Makgomo (née Mannya) Maxeke (7 April 1871[1] – 16 October 1939) was a South African religious leader, social and political activist.

[2] Charlotte Makgomo Mannya was born in Ga-Ramokgopa, Limpopo, South Africa, on 7 April 1871 and grew up in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape.

[2] Soon after her birth, Mannya's family moved to Fort Beaufort, where her father had gained employment at a road construction company.

The Minister of Home Affairs of South Africa, Naledi Pandor, took special interest in this detail of Charlotte Maxeke's life, however, no records were found.

"[5] From Uitenhage, Charlotte moved to Port Elizabeth to study at the Edward Memorial School under Headmaster Paul Xiniwe.

[5] After arriving in Kimberley in 1885, Charlotte began teaching fundamentals of indigenous languages to expatriates, and of basic English to black African work foremen—who, at the time, were known derogatorily as “boss boys".

Charlotte's rousing success after her first solo performance in Kimberley Town Hall immediately resulted in her appointment to the Europe-bound choir operation, which was taken over from Bam by a European.

Bishop Daniel A. Payne, of the African Methodist Church (AME) in Ohio, a former missionary in the Cape, organized the churchgoers to provide for the abandoned troupe's continued stay in America.

Charlotte Maxeke became politically active while in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which she played a part in bringing to South Africa.

While in the AME Church, she was heavily involved in teaching and preaching the Gospel and advocating education for Africans of South Africa.

She, along with two other individuals from Transvaal, attended an early South African Native National Congress meeting, and was one of the few women present.

[10] She was notably the first South African Social worker, appointed as Welfare Officer to the Johannesburg Magisterial Court and involved in juvenile work.

Furthermore, Maxeke led a delegation to see Louis Botha, who was then South African Prime Minister, to discuss the issue of passes for women.

Maxeke participated with protests related to low wages at Witwatersrand and eventually joined the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union in 1920.

The same year Charlotte Maxeke set up an employment agency for Africans in Johannesburg and also began service as a juvenile parole officer.

[5] At an event in 2015 dedicated to International Women's Day at Kliptown's Walter Sisulu Square, the Gauteng Infrastructure Development MEC planned to convert Maxeke's home into a museum and interpretation centre.