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Seedtime: Omar Badsha Retrospective
A major retrospective exhibition of Omar Badsha’s drawings, woodcuts and photographic essays from the mid-1960s to 2000s. His drawings are being shown for the…
EventUp to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland
Around 100 African National Congress (ANC) members were reported to have been detained in Swaziland. The arrests were confirmed by the Swaziland Police…
ArticleWhat was the Great Depression and why did it start in the USA?
The depression was caused by a number of serious weaknesses in the economy. Although the 1920s appeared on the surface to be a prosperous time, income was…
ArticleAZAPO’s Women’s Wing - Imbeleko
Imbeleko is the women's wing of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), formed in 1982 to address the specific challenges faced by black women under…
Indian Community
2010 marks 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Indian indentured workers and the birth of this community in South Africa. Durban is home to the largest…
EventThe Immigration Regulation Act is passed in South Africa
On 14 June 1913, the first Immigration Regulation Act, which limited the free movement of Asians, and restricted their entry into the country, was passed in…
EventFEDSAW Western Cape Region launched
The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was one of the women’s rights organisations that emerged in the 1950s and conducted a massive campaign against…
EventFietas, site of forced removal in Johannesburg, is renamed Pageview
Fietas, a western suburb of Johannesburg, was officially re-named Pageview in honour of Mr. J.J. Page, the Mayor of Johannesburg at the time. Up until this…
EventDorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant
40 year-old Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became the longest surviving patient. She lived for 12 years afterwards. She was South Africa's…
EventCosatu calls for three days national protest against the Labour Relations Amendment Bill (LRA)
At its Special Congress in May, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) called for three days of national protest against the Labour Relations…
EventGifted writer and actor William Modisane is born
Journalist, short-story writer and actor William (Bloke) Modisane was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Modisane left South Africa in 1959 and while in exile…
EventAndré Phillipus Brink, well-known SA author, is born
South African novelist, Andre Phillipus Brink was born on 29 May 1935. Brink obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature at the University of…
ArticleOrganisation of African Unity (OAU)
Context: The Emergence of a Pan-African Rhetoric The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963, was the culmination of a number of…
ArticleOvercoming Adversity from All Angles: The Struggle of the Domestic Worker during Apartheid by Bennett Gwynn
This article was written by Bennett Gwynn and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project Overcoming Adversity from All…
ArchiveLeon Trotsky
Black, red and white poster. 50th anniversary of the death of Leon Trotsky. Artwork of Leon Trotsky, murdered by Stalin on 20th August 1940. Call to Socialism…
ArchiveHamba kahle Jennifer Davis 1933-2019
Jennifer Davis, stalwart champion of majority rule in South Africa and leader in the anti-apartheid movement in the United States, died on October 15 in…
EventHattie McDaniels Wins An Academy Award
29 February 1940 Hattie McDaniels Wins An Academy Award Hattie McDaniels becomes the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for her…
EventChief Cyprian Zulu warns his people not to participate in the Defiance Campaign
The Defiance Campaign was planned in the 1950s in response to the enactment of numerous apartheid laws by the South African government. During the African…
EventIndustrial and Commercial Workers Union is founded under Clements Kadalie
The Industrial and Commercial Union later renamed the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) was founded by Clements Kadalie, a young Nyassalander who…
EventLouis Hayward, South African–American Actor dies.
Louis Hayward was born in Johannesburg on 19 March 1909. He went to study in England where he met playwright Noel Coward who became his patron. He starred in a…
EventUniversity of Pretoria is established
The Transvaal University College, with branches in Johannesburg and Pretoria, took the examinations of the Cape University. The Pretoria branch of the…
EventAt a summit SA Trade Unions resolve to defy apartheid and labour laws
Location: back to this day in history search archive During the summit conference organised by non-racial labour unions at Langa, Cape Town, Trade Union…
EventPrime Minister opens SA’s first atomic reactor
Dr. H.F. Verwoerd opened South Africa's first atomic reactor, SAFARI-1 (South African Fundamental Atomic Reactor Installation-1) at Pelindaba, about thirty km…
EventThe European Community announces that it will lift economic sanctions against South Africa
On 27 January 1992, the European Community announced that it will lift economic sanctions against South Africa which imposed in September 1985. While some…
EventEleven people are killed at Donnybrook, Kwazulu
The killing of eleven people at Donnybrook, Kwazulu-Natal on the 21 March 1996 can be considered as part of the ongoing rivalry between supporters of the…
EventCongo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo
King Leopold II of Belgium handed over the Congo to the Belgian state on this date. Previously he held it as a private project undertaken to extract rubber and…
EventBenjamin Mzimkulu Macala, SA artist, is born
Benjamin Mzimkulu (Ben) Macala was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State). As a young boy he tended cattle on a farm in the Free State and…
ArchiveA death warrant for Afrikaans by Hermann Giliomee, 11 November 2019
Introduction The Constitutional Court’s ruling that Afrikaans as a language of instruction has to be content with a marginal place at Stellenbosch…
BiographyOliver Tambo
Early years Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (more popularly known as Oliver Tambo or OR) was born in the village of Kantilla, Bizana, in the Mpondoland …
ArchiveCHAPTER 3 - Unprepared by Howard Barrell
- Soweto and All That, June 1976 - October 1978 Fifteen years after our commitment to armed struggle, we could mount no organised retaliation by armed groups…