Phyllis Miriam Altman (née Sachs), was the daughter of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants Morris and Beile Sachs. She attended Jeppe High School for Girls. Altman, like other girls at her high school, sewed "for the poor Blacks" on Thursdays. Altman attended the University of Witwatersrand on a loan from the Transvaal Education Department that stipulated she teach after graduation. During her time at university, she took part in student demonstrations protesting the "Greyshirts and the bulldozing of Sophiatown." She earned an undergraduate degree and then finished an Honours degree in History before spending a year at the Teachers' Training College in Johannesburg. She was almost expelled from the Teachers' Training College because of her activism, but she graduated and spent three years teaching at "all White schools." After teaching, she started working for the anti-fascist Springbok Legion. In the Springbok Legion, she helped support ex-servicemen of color, where she was able to see the "disastrous effects of the Apartheid system on African men."
