Babette Brown

Babette Brown (née Kotkin, 1931 – 10 February 2019) was a South African-born British writer on race and diversity issues. Brown's mother Annie had left Lithuania to escape the Russian pogroms against the Jews. She arrived in Cape Town in 1903 and lived in District Six before moving to Johannesburg where she would marry her cousin Lipman Kotkin, and where her daughter Babette was born. She attended Parktown High School for Girls and graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a bachelor's degree in education and from Enfield Polytechnic in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in education in sociology.

Quotes About Babette Brown

• While teaching again, Brown soon realised that the same racism that she had fought in her home country was also prevalent in the UK. This was the awakening of a new goal – to fight the racism, sexism, and classism that was deeply entrenched in the British education system and wider society.
• So many of us have loved her dearly, been inspired by her virtues, benefited from her friendship, kindness and generosity, and regarded her as a trailblazer in so many things – her stand against apartheid, racism and injustice of all kinds; her service to education and gender rights; her compassion for humanity. She is in our hearts and thoughts and will be remembered as a fine human being as a very dear friend.
  • South African History Online. "Babette Brown". 14 May 2025. Retrieved 29 March 2025.

• Babette Brown came to the UK after she was forced into political exile due to her opposition to Apartheid. The author of several books on early learning and child development, at the age of 70, she went on to found Persona Dolls, making dolls of many different ethnicities and types, who would tell their stories through a teacher. Children were then encouraged to offer advice and solutions to the experiences a doll describes. This practical and non-threatening approach to dealing with difficult issues has proved especially effective with children. Her charity, established in the 2000s, produce the dolls in South Africa. Thousands of teachers globally are now trained to use the Persona Dolls approach.
• Although she didn’t win we were very satisfied, simply with the nomination, and we happily relaxed with another glass of wine content that Babette would have been so proud that her anti-racist work with young children, through Persona Doll Training, was being acknowledged."
• "Just as the nominations for all the categories were finished to our utter astonishment Babette’s face filled the screen again and it was announced that she had WON a special CHAIRMAN’S AWARD for her work with Persona Doll Training. Shocked, my brother, Peter Brown and I approached the stage to collect her award.
  • SACC, "Meet the Winner: Chairman's Award 2019". South African Chamber of Commerce UK. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2025.