Apartheid in South Africa is a political system of segregation that perpetuated unequal relationships between Europeans and their descendants and local people of color. This system of segregation placed an inhumane burden on African, Indian, and Couloured people of South Africa. The government placed heavy restrictions intruding on every aspect of private life for these persecuted citizens. Specialized passes, restricted living areas, and daily police harassment were just the least of what an average black citizen faced.

Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin’s experiences in Nylstroom and Pretoria Central Prisons as a female political activist who was detained for her work in the underground ANC during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle reveal the excessively brutal and inhumane treatment of Africans by the South African Nationalist government.

Jean Clarice Middleton was born in Durban, South Africa on August 30, 1928. She first attended the Durban Girls’ College. She then went on to receive a Master of Arts degree from Natal University, which is now the University of KwaZulu-Natal. After earning her degree, she decided to become a teacher. She married Harold Strachan who was also an anti-apartheid activist.