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BiographyJacobus Herculaas de la Rey
Jacobus Hercules de la Rey was the sixth child of Adrianus Johannes and Adriana (van Rooyen). He was born near Winburg on 22 October 1847. After the Battle of…
BiographyLillian Diedericks
Lillian Diedericks was born in 1925 in the oldest part of New Brighton township, Red Location (near the railway line), in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. Her…
Mzimhlophe /Qhudeni
Mzimhlophe, an area about 60m km north of Kranskop in central Natal was founded on Trust land in the Nkandla district of KwaZulu as a place of relocation, The…
ArticleSouth Africa in the 1970s
During the early 1960s, civil society was disempowered and social movements were repressed. Although the capacity for social movements to impose change…
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…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1866-1909
In this period early African political organisations were formed; these organisations precipitated the formation of the African National Congress. 1866 …
ArticlePoverty and development
One of the most important issues for women in South Africa has always been that of poverty. During the apartheid years, black women were forced into the rural…
PlaceAggeneys, a Town at the foot of the Aggeneys Mountain in the Namaqualand
Town at the Southern foot of Aggeneys Mountains, about 60 km West of Pofadder. It has been suggested that the name is derived from the Nama language, meanings…
BiographyIsaac Williams Wauchope
The esteemed teacher and journalist, Samuel E.K. Mqhayi described Isaac Williams Wauchope: “Rev Isaac Wauchope was truly handsome in appearance, a broad-faced…
A growing urban African population
As Johannesburg expanded, so did its need for African labour. After the First World War, a large number of factories were being established and were growing in…
BiographyHarry Heinz Schwarz
Harry Schwarz (born Heinz Schwarz) was born in Cologne, Germany (Weimar Republic) on 13 May 1924. Growing up in a Jewish family, Schwarz witnessed the rise of…
BiographyTimothy Peter Jenkin
Timothy Peter Jenkin was born in 1948, in Cape Town and educated at Rondebosch Boys' Prep and Boys' High School,[1][2] matriculating at the age of 17.[3] …
BiographyAhmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada
Ahmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada was born on 21 August 1929, to Indian immigrant parents in Schweizer Reneke, a small town in Western Transvaal [now North West…
PlaceCape Agulhas, Western Cape
Cape Agulhas is some 32 km South of Bredarsdorp. The name is Portuguese for 'needle' and is said to have been given because the compass needle was seen to…
ArchiveCongress Resister 1983 - 1989
Congress Resister was published by the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), which was formed at the turn of the twentieth century by Mahatma Gandhi. It was not…
ArticleThe Sedition Trial 1946 - 1948
The history of the struggle against racial oppression and exclusion in South Africa is inextricably intertwined with the struggle of workers against…
ArticleBlack Consciousness: Cultural Expression and Representation
Though first publicized as a respected medium for the liberation struggle in 1967, poetry and literary expression had been popularized throughout the 1950s and…
BiographySunny Girja Singh
Sunny Girja Singh was born in Cato Manor (uMkhumbane), Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), in 1939 to a working-class family. His father, Girjabaksh, came to…
BiographyChief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli
Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1960, was President-General of the African National Congress (ANC) from December…
ArticleGayle: The Language of Apartheid South Africa’s Gay Underground
The socio-political landscape of Apartheid South Africa was a challenging one for members of the LGBTQI+ community. Under the former National Party (NP),…
Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa
The landscape of Black political activity in the 1960s was a very different one from that of the previous decade. The apartheid government had shattered the…
ArticleSummary: The Kingdom of Mali and the City of Timbuktu in the 14th Century
The Mali Empire (c. 1235-1600 CE)At its height, the Mali Empire stretched across more than 1.29 million square kilometres of West Africa, encompassing the…
ArchiveDavid Goldblatt Revisits "On the Mines" by Jeffrey Ladd, 5 December 2012
As the German publisher Gerhard Steidl prepares a series of books on the life work of David Goldblatt, Jeffrey Ladd spoke with the South African photographer…
BiographyRaymond Ackerman
Please note: This biography is a modified extract from the following source: Bell, P. (1999) “Raymond Ackerman” from They Shaped our Century: The Most…
PlaceUnion Tavern and Stables, Simonstown
It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 23 March 1979. The Union, was a Tavern occupying a plot 80 by 60 feet on Smith Street,…
PlaceBethelsdorp, Algoa Bay -Eastern Cape
Back in 1802, the establishment of a Missionary Village on a deserted farm near Algoa Bay, now Port Elizabeth, became a thorn in the side of the colonial…
ArchiveThe Final Prize - Contents and Preface
From the book: The Final Prize by Norman Levy “Everyone has a story”, Sephiwe, the librarian at the Robben Island Mayibuye Archive, said to me as he handed me…
Second World War and its impact, 1939-1948
South Africa enters the War General Smuts signing the agreement at the first meeting of the UN General Assembly. Source: P. Joyce (2000), Suid-Afrika in die…
Township Uprising, 1984-1985
On 3 September the Tricameral Parliament opened in Cape Town while protest demonstrations began in the Transvaal, marking the start of the longest and most…
ArticleWestern Cape Youth Uprising timeline 1976
1976 16 June, Extra police patrols are deployed. 24 June, The Principal's office in Hlangisi Primary (Nyanga) was burnt out and the following day the same…