Shamsunnahar Mahmud (c. 1908 — April 10, 1964) was a writer, politician and educator in Bengal during the early 20th century. She was a leader of the women's rights movement in Bengal pioneered by Begum Rokeya.[1] Shamsunnahar Hall of the University of Dhaka and University of Chittagong was named after her.[2]
Mahmud started her career as a teacher of Bengali literature at Lady Brabourne College. She worked as secretary to the Nikhil Banga Muslim Mahila Samity (All Bengal Muslim Women's Society). She visited Turkey and the Middle East as a representative of East Pakistan in 1952. She was elected member of the National Assembly in 1962.[2]
In 1961, she initiated the establishment of "The Centre for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children".[2] She led a delegation to the International Council of Women in Colombo and joined the International Friendship Organization as Asia's regional director.[citation needed]
Personal life
She married Wahiduddin Mahmud in 1927. They had met in Calcutta two years ago when she was a teenager.[4] He was the Surgeon General of then East Pakistan. Together they had two sons, Mamun Mahmud, a martyred freedom fighter during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh, and Mainuddin Mahmud, a cricketer, and sports enthusiast.[citation needed]
Works
Mahmud's first poem was published in a juvenile monthly magazine, Angur. She edited the women's sections of the magazines, Nauroj and Atmashakti. Together with her brother, Habibullah, she edited the magazine Bulbul (1933) which was published from Kolkata.[citation needed]
Books
Punyamayi (1925)
Phulbagicha (1935)
Begum Mahal (1936)
Roquia Jibani (1937; the first biography of Begum Rokeya)
^Banu, U. A. B. Razia Akter (1992). Islam in Bangladesh. BRILL. p. 135. ISBN90-04-09497-0. Begum Shamsunnahar Mahmud carried Rokeya's torch in former East Pakistan from 1950 to the 1960s.