The establishment of Drum Magazine in the 1950s, notwithstanding the newly-elected Nationalist Party’s policy of Apartheid, reflected the dynamic changes that were taking place among the new urban Black South African – African, Indian and Coloured – communities. 

The magazine became an important platform for a new generation of writers and photographers who changed the way Black people were represented in society. This year marks the magazine’s 60^th anniversary, which we are celebrating by publishing new material and key profiles over the next month.

In this period early African political organisations were formed; these organisations precipitated the formation of the African National Congress.