Barbara Hogan joined the African National Congress (ANC) shortly after the 1976 Uprisings. Her responsibilities in the then underground movement were to mobilise the white political left, participation in public political campaigning and supplying the ANC underground in Botswana with information about trade union and community activity in South Africa. She was detained in 1982, and after being interrogated, ill-treated and held in solitary confinement for a year, she was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to 10 years in jail. She was released in 1990 and has continued to play a pivotal role in the ANC.