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Women at the start of the 20th century
It is only over the last three or four decades that women's role in the history of South Africa has, belatedly, been given some recognition. Previously the…
Poqo political trials and the execution of its operatives in the 1960s
Mass mobilization of the 1950s culminated in the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960. Soon thereafter the apartheid government banned the African National…
ArticleXenophobic violence in democratic South Africa
Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals in South Africa has worsened. South Africa witnessed widespread xenophobic attacks since 1994 in provinces such…
ArticleNelspruit Timeline 1815-1996
1815 Louis Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg cross the Oranje/Gariep river. June 1836, Van Rensburg leaves Trichardt while Potgieter goes on an expedition to…
ArticlePaper abstracts and biographies of speakers
NameKoni Benson & Asher GamedzeOrganisationUniversity of Cape Town Biography Asher Gamedze currently cuts up most of his time between playing music, studying…
ArticleNatal Workers’ Theatre in the 1980s
Introduction Starting in the late 1970’s and reaching its height in the 1980’s, the South African province of Natal (now known as KwaZulu Natal – KZN) saw a…
ArticleCape Schools Join the Revolt
The school students in Cape Town reacted to the news they heard of events in Soweto. A teacher at one of the Coloured schools was later to write: 'We haven't…
ArticleDefiance Campaign timeline 1948-1952
1948 May 26, The National Party (NP) wins election and immediately introduces apartheid (separateness) measures against Blacks, Indian immigrants and those…
ArticleuMkhonto weSizwe (MK)
On 16 December, 1961, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) was launched as an armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). The formation of the MK Umkhonto…
ArticleAzanian People’s Organization (AZAPO)
In aftermath of the June 16 Uprising, the government cracked down on student activists and organisations alike. On 19 October 1977 the Black Consciousness…
ArticleStrong and Unnoticed: The Women of the UDF by Reid Arnold
Abstract The UDF was an umbrella organization that was founded to unify the hundreds of Anti-Apartheid movements occurring in the 1980s. Female leaders such…
ArticleYoung Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA)
The history of the Young Communist League (YCL) dates back to 1921, although the organisation observes 25 May 1922 as the date of its official formation…
ArticleThe 1913 Mineworkers’ Strike
Introduction: Background to the Strike The formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 was a development that had vastly different consequences for the…
ArticleNamibian Timeline
Late Pleistocene (Early and Middle Stone Age) 800 000 years Artefacts in a…
ArticleSouth African Film
Feature Films are the long format, fictional (non-factual) films you see in cinemas. They are called long format because they are longer than most other forms…
America, Spanish conquest
All the content in this America section was developed from 2003 lessons, namely; – America in the 1500s – The Slave TradeThe content below has been modified…
ArticleAfrapix Chronology 1981-1991
In the 1980s the National Party witnessed a renewed national and international pressure to initiate political reform. The Apartheid government accelerated its…
ArticleTimeline of South African photographic books and exhibitions 1958 - 2003
Timeline 1958 The photographer, Peter Magubane, is the first black South African to win the Press Photo of the Year Award. Albert Newall re…
General South African History Timeline: 1970s
1970 11 June, It is announced that Security Police have arrested the leader of the Soweto Students’ Representative Council (SSRC), Dan S. Montsitsi in…
Article#Am I Next? A Global Question
During September 2019 protests against Gender Based Violence (GBV) peaked after Uyinene Mrwetyana, a student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), was brutally…
ArticleAfrican Achievements and Potential
Our success educationally, industrially and politically is based upon the protection of a nation founded by ourselves. And the nation can be nowhere else but…
The historical significance of COSATU’s Workers’ Charter Campaign
Introduction During the late 1970s and early 1980s the issue of drawing up a Workers’ Charter became a leading item on the agenda of the South African labour…
ArticleChief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli timeline 1800 - 1967
Historical Context to Chief Luthuli Chronology While Chief Luthuli himself preferred another spelling and signed his name without an 'h', his surname is…
ArticleNdebele
The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. The Nguni represent nearly two thirds of South…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1600s
European's settle in South Africa for the first time and begin to further colonize and trade with the Khoikhoi at the cape, by the middle this century the…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1910-1919
This period was characterized by events leading up to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912 as well as the organization’s early years. Events…
ArticleUrban Removals - the Destruction of Sophiatown
Introduction This feature examines the history of forced removals in Johannesburg up to the destruction of Sophiatown. It begins by establishing the link…
ArticleThe Roots of Apartheid in the Construction of Buchuberg Dam
At the start of the 20th century South Africa faced a poor white epidemic. The state justified Apartheid as an "anti-poverty program for whites".[1] This poor…
ArticleHistory Grade 10 - Topic 6 Source-Based Questions and Answers
Based on the 2012 Grade 10 NSC Exemplar Paper: Grade 10 Past Exam Paper Grade 10 Source Addendum Grade 10 Past Exam Memo Source A: Source…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1980s
1980 is declared the Year of the Charter, marking the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom charter in 1955. 1980 SACTU declares the year as…