African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State

Updated: 24 Jul 2019

African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State. British military policy discouraged Black civilians from bringing foodstuffs into the concentration camps to create a situation of desperation, thus inducing the inmates to work for rations. These women carried their only belongings and foodstuffs on their heads and are being ‘shadowed' by a mounted soldier visible on the skyline. Women and children undertook most of the agricultural labour in the concentration camps, later run by the Department of Native Refugees.

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 28). African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/I-0043833

South African History Online (2011) 'African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State', South African History Online, 28 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/I-0043833 (Accessed: 31 October 2026).

South African History Online, African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/I-0043833, (accessed 31 October 2026).

"African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State." South African History Online, 28 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/I-0043833. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "African women on route to a concentration camp in the Orange Free State." South African History Online. March 28, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/I-0043833.