Born: 1 November 1910, Vietnam
Died: 28 August 1941
Country most active: Vietnam
Also known as: Nam Bac, Nguyễn Thị Vịnh
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai was a pioneering Vietnamese revolutionary leader within the Indochinese Communist Party during the 1930s. Born as Nguyễn Thị Vịnh, she co-founded the New Revolutionary Party of Vietnam in 1927, a precursor to the Communist Party of Vietnam.
In 1927, she co-founded the New Revolutionary Party of Vietnam, a precursor to the Communist Party of Vietnam. Among the remarkable female members of the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), she stood out. In April 1930, she became the secretary to Hồ Chí Minh (then Nguyễn Ái Quốc) in Hong Kong’s Orient Bureau of the Comintern. However, her path was fraught with challenges. She was detained by the British administration in 1931. Although intended for the French authorities, her fluency in Cantonese thwarted that plan, landing her in various Kuomintang prisons in China until 1934. She and Lê Hồng Phong represented the Seventh Congress of Comintern in Moscow in 1934. A union with Lê followed.
Returning to Vietnam in 1936, she assumed leadership among Saigon’s communists. In 1940, she was apprehended by the French colonial government and met her tragic end by firing squad in the subsequent year. Her husband, Lê, who had been imprisoned since June 1939, met a similar fate at Poulo Condore prison in September 1942.
Despite facing detentions and challenges, her legacy endures as a revered revolutionary martyr by the Vietnamese Communist Party.