A human being died that night…

Source 1 The caption for this photograph reads as follows: “A Duduza township resident lies dead while members of a special police squad take a smoke break after an all night “cleanup,” Transvaal, July 1985. Photographs such as this led to the government emergency regulations making it an offence to photograph police in “an unrest area or situation.” The police have shot hundreds, and...

Resistance from all sides

Source 1 In August 1956 thousands of women gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the introduction of pass laws to black women. This photograph shows the leaders of the protest, Sophie Williams, Helen Joseph, Lilian Ngoyi and Rahima Moosa. click here to download source Source 2 This photograph is of learners protesting against the Bantu Education Act of 1953. Many people...

The risk of resistance

Source 1 Bernstein discusses Steve Biko’s death in detention and the rationale of the police to keep him naked during his interrogation. She includes Biko’s own words to explain how white and black people viewed each other and related to each other. click here to download source Source 2 In his poem, Today, Nise Malange discusses the oppressors and resistors of apartheid, particularly...

No easy choice to resist

Source 1 This is one of four books written by anti-apartheid activists who worked with the Black Sash in Worcerster.  In this extract from her book, Not the End of the World, Nothemba Ngcwecwe describes her initial unwillingness to get involved in the struggle against apartheid. click here to download source Source 2 For her book, Lives of Courage Women for a new South Africa (1989), Diana...

“Meids” and “Medems”

Source 1 Many wealthier South African families employ domestic workers and so many South African women work as domestic workers. This job is unique in that the employee works within her employer’s living space and is privy to the employer’s private life, intimate relations and personal things. Domestic workers are often considered ‘part of the family’ and are included in family occasions...

How did apartheid create and enforce divisions based on ideas of “we and they”?

Source 1 The Population Registration Act(No. 30)  provided  the basis for separating the population of South Africa into different races. click here to download source. Source 2 All South Africans were issued an Identity number which indicated the population to which they had been allocated. click here to download source. Source 3 Many stories from District Six are about ‘Coloured’...