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21Hundred exists to ensure that, by the year 2100, the DuBoisian prophecy is finally consigned to history.
It has been over 125 years since the first Pan-African Conference in London, where WEB Du Bois foretold that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the colour line. The acuity of Du Bois's observation has not diminished. Today, as the forces of anti-Black racism reassert their influence and global reach, the colour line threatens to define the next century, too — unless we act.
OUR MISSION
We are building the networks, narratives, and new models for a world beyond anti-Black racism.
who we are
21Hundred builds on the foundations of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE), a racial justice leadership programme founded in 2017.
Our Journey
Where We Come From
21Hundred continues the legacy of AFRE — a racial justice leadership programme created through a final gift from Atlantic Philanthropies and incubated originally at New York’s Columbia University and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg..
In 2025, the AFRE programme left incubation and evolved into 21Hundred, carrying forward the AFRE Fellowship Experience alongside a suite of offerings charting futures beyond anti-Black racism.
Where We Are
21Hundred spans geographies and time, in how we think and organise.
With an innovation and operations cluster in London and a programmatic cluster in Johannesburg, our outlook is global, building community anywhere in the world where questions race and the future emerge. We hold close the local while emplotting ourselves into the global — connecting currents of thought, practice and imagination across borders.
Where We're Going
Our work is oriented towards worlds yet to be imagined.
Through a three-step dance of becoming, beholding and beyonding, we are charting pathways to a future beyond anti-Black racism. We do not presume to know the form that future will take, but we know it has been begging to be born. The year 2100 is our declaration of intent, a threshold beyond which we all belong.
Our Values
Possibility
We sit at the door of emergence, open to what is waiting to be born, where the waters break. We are the link from what is to what can be – both out in the world and here among ourselves. That is why we are forthcoming in our openness with each other, seeking to be available and accommodating.
Collectivity
We bring our unique skills and talents to this work. Together, we act in concert to bring our many-ness into symphony. The way of water is one—at times diverging into focused streams, but always returning to the oceans that bind us. We celebrate finding the third, fourth, fifth ways beyond false binaries. We leverage multiplicity as a tool for excavating complexity, which expands the breaches of our imaginations, for there, we find fuller freedom.
Fluidity
We are carving out a path that will not always take on a recognisable form, and we trust the wisdom of our intuition and instincts to navigate the unknown. Like a river, we find creative ways past stuck places and boulders, shaping them with mighty gentleness. We dance with each other in mutual consideration and make space for our individual humanities that do not fit into set moulds. We are open to surprise, are agile and flow between different forms like water between ice, liquid, and vapour.
Humility
We draw from the many different expressions of humility that exist across cultures. We are because of those who have come before us, and we are in service of those who will come after us. We hold this posture because we feel called to this work and accept our responsibility with joy, dignity, and quiet urgency. We embrace humility not just with each other, but also in our practice. That is why we are committed to depth of thought and considered action, to reflective rigor and to wide reach.
OUR PEOPLE
Our teams works across clusters between the United Kingdom and South Africa, as well as other parts of the world.
We embrace a hybrid working environment, assembling in person as needed to work while being rooted in our respective locations.
Board of Trustees
Staff
Lindiwe Kabasa
Chief Operations Officer
South Africa
Mopati Morake
Head of Fellowship
South Africa
Nigel Richard
Chief Programme Officer
South Africa
Nolwazi Mbuli
Head of Operations
South Africa
Sebabatso Manoeli-Lesame
Chief Executive Officer
United Kingdom
T. O. Molefe
Head of Editorial and Publications
Switzerland