In August 1938 Cissie Gool was elected to the Cape Town City Council, the first black woman in the country to serve in local government. Known as the "Jewel of District Six" she represented the people of that constituency in the council until 1951. The daughter of city councillor and political leader Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, she was a founder and leader of the National Liberation League and the Non-European Front in the 1930s, and was active in the fledgling passive resistance movement. In 1962 Gool became the first black woman to be called to the Cape Bar.