Strike a Woman, Strike a Rock: Women Against Apartheid in South Africa

In memory of Albertina Sisulu

and all the brave, defiant, resilient women

(of all colors and classes) whose labors gave birth

to a new South Africa. Though now at rest,

they still inspire women everywhere.

"Malibongwe igama bakakosikazi. Mali-bongwe!" (1)

　

(My purpose in this post is to encourage you to explore the contributions of women to the struggle for freedom and justice in South Africa. Teachers, please "put women on the agenda" of any lessons about resistance to segregation and apartheid in South Africa or discussions of contemporary South Africa, where women face many challenges and the struggle continues.  I decided to focus on the legacy of women's resistance to apartheid, and in particular the pass laws, during the 1950s.  This activism transformed the role of women in the liberation struggle.)

　
INTRODUCTION

In 1956 women in South Africa took to the streets, pushing back against a government that had disrupted their lives and communities through a cruel migrant labor system and--especially since the apartheid election of 1948--had imposed increasingly onerous, discriminatory laws and regulations. On August 9, 1956, women marched to a song that expressed their militant fervor: "Now you have touched the women, You have struck a rock, You have dislodged a boulder, You will be crushed." Albertina Sisulu was a woman and a rock, a participant in that march, whose death this past June was mourned by women activists in South Africa and around the world (2). But South African women’s history is strewn with such rocks, strong women whose legacy extends beyond South Africa.

The 1956 Anti-Pass March was a critical milestone in the struggle against apartheid and that is  why South Africans celebrate National Women’s Day on August 9th.   And why August is Women’s Month in South Africa, "dedicated to women because of the oppression and exploitation they face and the fact that they suffer from gender inequalities" (3).

During the apartheid years Black women in South Africa had to contend with a triple burden: patriarchy, capitalism, and apartheid. To put it another way their lives were "dramatically shaped by the patriarchy of their own society and its disruptions by an equally if very different, patriarchal mission Christianity and the form of South Africa’s racially structured capitalist order, based on a migrant labour system" (4). In one way or another these factors shaped the lives of colored, Indian, and white women, too. So gender, class, and race–important topics in world history’s "big picture"--provide spaces for putting South African women on the classroom agenda.

Women’s Resistance in South Africa

As President Jacob Zuma reminded his audience in his speech on August 9th, women’s resistance to unjust laws goes back to 1913, when women marched to the Magistrates’ Court in a small town in the Orange Free State and burned their passes. After this, the South African government decided that women living in urban areas would not have to obtain monthly entry permits, an exemption that would last until the 195os. In the meantime, however, women suffered from the effects of pass laws on the men in their families–as well as from efforts to discourage women from settling in towns and the exclusion of wives and families from the migrant labor camps of the mining companies.

After the apartheid election of 1948, as the government enacted a series of laws to implement the apartheid system, the Group Areas Act (1950) and the Pass Laws Act (1952) regulated residency and the movement of black South Africans.   In 1950 the government proposed changes to the Urban Areas Act (1923), designed specifically to prevent black women from residing in cities and townships. In practical terms this meant the extension of passes to women–who then mounted local anti-pass protests. While the 1952 legislation required black men over the age of 16 to carry passes–and included the extension of the law to include women–for women the implementation was slow. Nevertheless, it was anticipatedthat soon women in urban areas would have to carry passes, too. This helped to bring more women into the Defiance Campaign of 1952--in which large numbers of people voluntarily defied the apartheid laws and as many as 8000 were arrested, some of them women. Bertha Mashaba was among those eager to defy apartheid’s unjust laws. Having observed the hardships of the permit system (while growing up on the Germiston location), she was more than eager to defy the system by entering another location without a permit. (5)

The African National Congress (ANC) and other pioneering organizations were dominated by men. By 1931 the Bantu Women’s League (founded in 1918) was functioning as an ANC auxillary, but women had to wait until 1943 to join the ANC itself. Women who joined the ANC in 1943 included Dora Tamana, who would lead women’s protests in the 1950s. But the ANC Women’s League, formed in 1948, soon discovered that ANC men were disposed to using its members "mainly for catering and mobilisation" (6).

Women’s anti-pass activism in the early 1950s–in which ANC Women’s League members demonstrated their leadership–had shown that women could play a vital role in resisting apartheid. But many women, especially very independent-minded trade unionists, such as Lillian Ngoyi, were convinced that women needed to organize as women so that they could more forcefully articulate their concerns. Of course, they were also seeking to draw more women into the liberation struggle. In April of 1954 a group of like-minded women created an umbrella organization, the Federation of South African Women (FSAW, also referred to as Fedsaw). Its first president was Ida Mtwana of the Johannesburg branch of the ANCWL.  Lilian Ngoyi, one of four vice-presidents, would soon become its president.

The ANC Women’s League was a major component of the Federation, but it included colored, Indian, and white women--making it the first women’s organization in South Africa to subvert the lines of race (even more rigidly constructed after 1948 than under the early segregationist system). Playing a catalytic role in the process were two white members of the South African Communist Party, Ray Alexander and Hilda Bernstein, who attended FSAW's inaugural meeting as representatives of the Congress of Democrats. Helen Joseph, another COD member, would emerge as a tireless fomenter of protests. FSAW’s first treasurer was Amina Cachalia, an Indian woman who had joined the ANC during the Defiance Campaign–when she carried out many tasks (leafleting, recruiting protesters) on behalf of the protesters. Another early member of FSAW was Lizzy Abrahams, a coloured woman, who was active in the Coloured Peoples Congress. (7)

While most black and coloured members of FSAW were part of their respective community’s small professional class (teachers, nurses, social workers) or trade unionists, even these women often came from impoverished backgrounds. That is certainly evident from reading their biographies. Lilian Ngoyi, though a nurse, suffered many privations throughout her life. Others were factory workers (a status above that of maid or nanny). But a powerful commonality reaching across class lines were the difficulties facing working women with family responsibilities (dependent parents or older relatives, their own children and youngsters from their extended families).

At its very first meeting, the Federation of South African Women adopted a "Women Charter." This document, drafted by Hilda Bernstein, called for full political rights for women and men and for equal pay for equal work. It proclaimed "a single society" in which women "share the problems and anxieties of our men, and join hands with them to remove social evils and obstacles to progress." More precisely, the charter called for the abolition of all laws and customs infringing on women’s equality–so that women would no longer have the status of minors. This was a call for an end to patriarchy, in the form of "laws and practices derived from an earlier and different state of society." Its education plank was unequivocal--free and compulsory education for every child. Its practical concerns included paid maternity leave, childcare centers (referred to as creches) to meet the needs of working women–and such basic needs as clean water, sanitation, and access to transportation. Then, in May of 1955, FSAW produced another key document, "What Women Demand." (8)

It should be noted that both of these FSAW documents preceded South Africa’s famous manifesto, the Freedom Charter. In the classroom, comparing the Women’s Charter with the Freedom Charter would be an insightful exercise. Note that the preamble to the great manifesto calls upon "the people of South Africa, black and white, together equals, countrymen and brothers [to] adopt this Freedom Charter" (9). So clearly, from the perspective of anti-apartheid activists in 1955, discrimination against women as women was a ‘‘secondary problem." Yet, a close reading shows that the women’s concerns did influence the content of the Freedom Charter. And Lilian Ngoyi, president of the ANCWL, did become the first woman elected to the ANC’s Executive Committee (10).

With the apartheid government becoming more determined to restrict women's entry into urban areas, FSAW focused on this issue, deciding to organize protests against the government's decision to require women to carry passes (effective on January 1, 1956). After a big demonstration in Pretoria in October 1955, led by Ida Mtwana, their growing movement attracted women from many corners of the country. The culminating event of local protests would be the August 9th, 1956 protest in Pretoria. Since Prime Minister Strijdom had refused to meet with a FSAW delegation, the women would present him with a massive pile of petitions.  So FSAW leaders canvassed the country to collect petitions and at the same time recruited women willing to march in Pretoria. This task fell mostly to Helen Joseph and Bertha Mashaba, who managed to visit local leaders in nearly every large urban area. To be fair, it may be noted that one fellow from the ANC, and another from the COD, assisted them. Albertina Sisulu, a member of both the ANCWL and the FSAW, was also one of the chief organizers of the march. (11)

What was different about this protest was its broad base, including the mobilization of many women whose resistance had been directed towards local issues. Ray Alexander, under banning orders that prevented her from marching, did her part behind the scenes, especially in the effort to recruit women from Cape Town.  Leading the Natal women on August 9th was Dorothy Nyembe, who had challenged the government’s attempt to control traditional beer-brewing in Durban–as well as forced removals from residential areas (12).

Imagine 20,000 marching and singing women, some with babies on their backs or children in tow, converging on the Union Buildings, where the Prime Minister had his office. Yet, this massive march on August 9th was an orderly march. When no one at the Union Buildings would see them, the women left their petitions at the doorway of the Prime Minister’s office. Then, instead of just leaving, Lilian Ngoyi suggested that they stand there, in silence, for 30 minutes. After that, to signal the end of their protest, they sang Nkosi sikeleli Afrika (the ANC, now national, anthem) and then it was over. This really shows how clever an activist Lilian Ngoyi could be. (13)

In addition to outrage over the pass laws, women were motivated by the impact of Bantu education on their younger siblings and their own children. During the march they sang a very militant song, with the line "We do not want Bantu Education." In the 1950s Albertina Sisulu set up a classroom in her home to provide a higher standard of education--until the authorities prohibited such "home schooling." Like Lilian Ngoyi, whose own education had been cut short by poverty, they wanted their children to receive the kind of quality education that would lift them out of poverty. (14)

In December, 1956 the government retaliated by arresting and charging with high treason 156 of those who had signed Freedom Charter. Among those arrested–along with Nelson Mandela–were Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, and Dorothy Nyembe. While the charges against most of those arrested were dropped, Helen Joseph stood among the accused at the infamous "Treason Trial" Nyembe dropped (1957). Their trial lasted nearly five years, yet the prosecution failed to show that any of the accused had conspired to use violence. Thus all 30 remaining defendants were  acquitted, in March, 1961 (15).

In the meantime the liberation struggle continued.  In 1958 when the ANC executive committee tried to organize a general strike, but when their planning hit a hard patch, Nelson Mandela became more than a little frustrated. In his autobiography he tells us about a comeuppance he received at this time, from a woman who worked for him as his "house assistant" (his politically correct term for a maid), someone he called sister describes as "more a member of the family than an employee" (16). On the day just before the strike, he casually asked to her to wash and iron some shirts for him on the following day. Here’s the rest of the story, as Mandela tells it:


A long and uncharacteristic silence followed. Ida then turned to me and said with barely concealed disdain, "You know very well that I can’t do that."

"Why not?" I replied, surprised by the vehemence of her readction.

"Have you forgotten that I, too, am a worker?" she said with some satisfaction.  "I will be on strike tomorrow with my people and fellow workers!"

Her son saw my embarassment and in his boyish way tried to ease the tension ... In irritation, she turned on her well-meaning son and said, "Boy, where were you when I struggling for my rights in that house? If I had not fought hard against your ‘Uncle Nelson’ I would not today be treated like a sister!" Ida did not come to work the next day, and my shirts went unpressed.
　 Thus even Mandela had to admit to that ANC men often underestimated the fortitude of ordinary women. This anecdote captures, I suspect, the "attitude" of more than a few, otherwise humble, ordinary women–who were not afraid to challenge (in their own way) the prerogatives of those comrades who might take them for granted. So, when putting women on the agenda, let’s remember all those strong working class women, especially the maids and nannies in white households and in the homes of the better-off, colored and black middle classes.   Though most of their names can’t be found on any membership lists, they often made incredible sacrifices for the cause. 

Given the cooperation between the ANC and the SAIC, a number of Indian women figured prominently in the anti-apartheid struggle. Fatima Meer, for example, an activist from the age of 16, helped to organize the Durban and District Women’s League, now recognized as the first women’s organization with both Indian and African members.   Fatima and her husband Ismail Meer were at the center of efforts to forge strong ties between ANC leaders and their counterparts in the SAIC. As one of the founding members of FSAW, Fatima became one of the organizers of the Anti-Pass March of 1956. Another woman activist, Phyllis Naidoo (married to M.D. Naidoo), worked with Dorothy Nyembe to oppose the Bantu Education Act and during the Treason Trial raised funds to assist the families of the accused. In the late 1950s, she and her husband, working as part of the underground helped several comrades escape from South Africa. (17)

Six liberal white women formed the Women’s Defence of the Constitution League in 1955 for the purpose of demonstrating against legislation  that would remove coloured people from the voting rolls. To show their utter disdain for the manner in which the apartheid system was dismantling the constitution, they wore black mourning sashes across their right shoulders. The media began referring to them as the Black Sash, a name that stuck. Unfortunately, early efforts to link Black Sash and the FSAW failed. Nevertheless, Jean Sinclair (one of the founders), who was adamantly opposed to apartheid system, helped to propel Black Sash towards more actively assisting black South Africans caught up in the miasma of the pass laws and also helping them with a whole range of employment-related problems. To do this work Black Sash opened Advice Offices in urban areas. Black Sashers attended trials to monitor the proceedings and also began to protest against forced removals. Quite remarkably, in the years since the demise of apartheid, the Black Sash has transformed itself into a multiracial, vocal hub of advocacy on a range of community, development, health, and social-economic issues. (18)

After Sharpville

After the Sharpville Massacre in 1960, the context and the nature of the struggle were transformed. A State of Emergency was proclaimed and with it a crackdown on ANC members and other activists. In the 1960s South Africa entered the era of "Grand Apartheid," when setting up Homelands for black South Africans–removing them from urban areas and sorting them according to ethnic identities-was a government priority. With the ANC banned, many activists went underground--while others escaped to continue the struggle from bases outside South Africa. Reluctantly, Nelson Mandela, together with Walter Sisulu and other ANC leaders turned, to armed resistance.  This became the task of a new ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Walter Sisulu was put in charge of building up Umkhonto’s regional units and local cells.  After he was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison, he jumped bail (while an appeal was pending). The police tried to catch him at home, but he had already fled. So they arrested Albertina and her son, under the the draconian General Laws Amendment Act (detention without charges for 90 days).  Albertina spent two months in solitary confinement while the search went on for her husband. He was captured, along with Mandela and others at a farm in Rivonia. The Rivonia trial resulted in life sentences for Mandela, Sisulu and four others. Mandela and Sisulu were sent to Robben Island. And their wives were also sentenced to a kind of torture that is almost impossible to imagine.

During "Grand Apartheid" the government’s repressive tactics prevented both the FSAW and the ANCWL from operating as legal entities. In fact, the ANCWL would not be reconstituted until 1993.  Women suffered separation from their arrested, detained, and imprisoned husbands, brothers and sons. Women who resisted--whose voices were raised in protest--were banned, put under house arrest, and imprisoned. Here are some examples of how leading activists of the 1950s fared during the era of "Grand Apartheid" and (if they survived) after 1994:

• Lilian Ngoyi: arrested in 1960 during the Emergency, spending some time in solitary confinement; banned for 18 years–the silencing of a powerful voice; died in 1980.
• Helen Joseph: banned in 1957 and then placed under house arrest in 1962; banning orders lifted briefly during terminal illness of her husband but reimposed in 1980; died 1992
• Frances Baard: on the executive committee of the South African Congress of Trade Unions, but detained in 1960 and again in 1963 (in solitary for 12 months); sentenced in 1964 for her ANC work; released in 1969, then banned and restricted; part of the United Democratic Front in the 1980s; died 1997.
• Dorothy Nyembe: joined Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961; organized rural women during the Natal Women’s Revolt (1962); arrested in 1963, imprisoned for three years; banned but still pursued underground work; arrested for protecting Umkhonto operatives and sentenced (1969) to 15 years in prison; after 1994, helped to write the new constitution and served as a member of the National Assembly; died in 1998.
• Ray Alexander Simons: after living under strict banning orders for many years, she and her husband Jack left South Africa in 1965; while Jack was teaching at Manchester University they collaborated on a major work of labor history, Class and Colour in South Africa: 1850-1950; in 1967 they moved to Zambia, where they engaged in underground activities, such as training young exiles in the bush camps; Ray and Jack were the first whites accepted as regular members of the ANC; they returned to South Africa in 1990; died in 2004.
• Hilda Bernstein: since 1958 her banning orders had included a ban on writing or publishing, but she continued working in secret; after Sharpville (1960), detained under provisions of the Emergency; her husband Rusty was charged and tried along with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu at the Rivonia trial; in 1964 he was acquitted, but after he was rearrested and released on bail, they fled to Botswana, ending up in the UK; living in exile Hilda was active in the ANC’s External Mission, speaking on behalf of the ANC in Britain, Europe, and Canada; after Rusty died (2002), she returned to South Africa; died in Cape Town in 2006.
• Fatima Meer: a leading voice in the 1970s through her work as an activist, academic and researcher; gravitated to the views of Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness movement; under banning orders from 1975-1980; arrested in 1976 (after the student revolt) and detained without trial for six months; after 1994, served the ANC in advisory positions; died in 2010.
• Albertina Sisulu: arrested in 1963 and held in solitary confinement for two months; worked to maintain ties between ANC members in exile and those in prison–even when she was banned and under house arrest; detained in 1981; joined the United Democratic Front, serving as co-president in 1983; detained again in 1985; leader of a UDF delegation to Europe and the US in 1989; rejoiced when Walter was released in October, 1989; in 1994, served in the first democratic Parliament; died June, 2011.

Three of the women listed above received the Isithwalandwe Medal, the ANC’s highest award, for their courageous contributions to the liberation struggle: Lilian Ngoyi (1982), Helen Joseph (1992), Ray Alexander Simons (2004). Isithwalandwe means "the one who wears the plumes of the rare bird." Across Africa, wearing a rare plume is a sign of great moral authority and leadership. Even so, these women were themselves beautiful "rare birds."

Amandla!

ACTIVITIES

Ask students to EXPLORE South African history during the apartheid era from the perspective of Black/Coloured women. Let them begin with the rich resources on the South African History Online and Overcoming Apartheid web sites. To organize what they are learning, they should list the major pieces of apartheid legislation and then, for each of these, describe its impact on the lives of women. Encourage students to think beyond the legal discrimination to consider the practical impact on the daily lives of women and their families. For this exercise the "Women’s Charter" and "What Women Demand" are key primary sources. EXTEND this activity by sending students to search on-line biographies for specific examples from the lives of women who participated in the struggle against apartheid. Some students might want to consult print biographies (see RESOURCES: Biographies of South African Women).

COMPARE primary source "manifestos": First discuss the nature of such documents, the importance of the context in which they were created and adopted, and the goals of the leaders of the organizations involved in drafting them. ASK: Who was the intended audience? (Make sure that students understand that all three were intended for multiple audiences.) More specifically, ASK: What does the Freedom Charter (1955) say about women’s rights? How does the content of the two FSAW documents overlap with the Freedom Charter and how does it differ?

READ/DISCUSS: Distribute copies (or read online) President Jacob Zuma’s address on National Women’s Day address. ASK: What historical landmarks did he mention? Why are these important? According to President Zuma, what were the four pillars of the freedom struggle? EXPAND the discussion by asking: How did women contribute to each of these pillars? (To give specific answers, students should be encouraged to do independent research–a possible homework assignment.)

READ/DISCUSS/RESEARCH: In his speech President Zuma called Albertina Sisulu an "icon" of the struggle? (To help students with this concept, talk about Nelson Mandela as an iconic historical figure.) ASK: What has made "MaSisulu" an iconic figure? He also names four other iconic women. Who are they? What can you find out about their contribution to the struggle? (This discussion could be preparation for the GROUP WORK activity since the images will re-inforce the concept of an iconic figure.)

GROUP WORK: Use either the five women across the top of the ANC Women’s League home page OR the nine women on the FSAW poster (1987) to jump start in-class research (if computers and the Internet are available). Divide the class into small groups, each working up a brief report on the contribution of a particular woman to the anti-apartheid struggle. They can begin with the South African History Online biographies and, if time permits, search for more information (or supply the URLs for additional resources). (See RESOURCES for the ANCWL page and for an online poster image.)  OR, create your own list of South African women for your students to select from and research.

COMPARATIVE POLITICS or CIVICS CLASS: Distribute copies of President Zuma’s National Women’s Day address (or excerpts from it). ASK: How did South women contribute to the writing of "a new gender-sensitive Constitution"?

WORLD HISTORY CLASS: Begin with a close reading of Lilian Nogyi’s 1956 address to the ANC Women’s League (in Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region). Discuss it as a primary source document in the context of South Africa in general and the pass laws in particular. EXPAND this lesson by turning to Nogyi’s remarks on colonialism and imperialism, which she relates specifically to Egypt. What was going on in the Middle East in 1956? How does this inform us about Ngoyi’s worldview beyond South Africa. (She also took up the cause of women in Algeria and Palestine.)

DISCUSS: Select one or more of the articles about this year’s National Women’s Day for a classroom discussion of challenges facing women in South Africa today. EXTEND the topic: Students search the web for more information, especially from South African newspapers and magazines online.  (Send them to http://allafrica.com/southafrica/, where they can select "Women" as a topic from the menu on the right; or to the list of newspaper sites at http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/southafrica/rsanews.html.)

EXPLORE the web site of the Black Sash. What was its "mission" during the apartheid years and how did it changed after abut 1990? What’s so exciting about today’s Black Sash? Students could make a poster or short slideshow to answer either of these questions.  (See the Black Sash set in RESOURCES: South African Women's Resistance.)

GENERAL RESOURCES

South African History Online: http://www.sahistory.org.za

• Very rich resources. For the larger context of the pass laws, see "History of the Pass Laws in SA 1800s-1900s."  URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/south-africa-1806-1899/history-pass-laws-sa-1800s-1900s

Overcoming Apartheid (Michigan State University):  http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/index.php

• For more about this program check out the "About" page.
• Click on interviews for oral accounts by 60 participants in the struggle, including Luli Callinicos, Ayesha Hoorzook, Phyllis Naidoo and other women (see also under Black Sash)

TEXT: "Freedom Charter." http://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01600/05lv01611/06lv01612.htm

"South Africa: Women." Africa South of the Sahara (Stanford University): http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/southafrica/rsawomen.html

• Amazing list of relevant web sites, vetted by African Studies specialists.

Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Little, Brown and Company: New York, 1994, 1995.

Thompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.



RESOURCES: National Women’s Day 2011

Zuma, Jacob. "Their Struggle Was Not in Vain." Politics Web (August 9, 2011): http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=250082&sn=Detail&pid=71616

• Keynote address by the President of South Africa, on National Women’s Day, speaking at Peter Mokaba Stadium, Limpopo.

"National Women’s Day." ANC Women’s League (August 10, 2011): http://www.anc.org.za/wl/show.php?id=8868

　
"Men Must Join the Gender Dialogue.’" South Africa Info (August 10, 2011):
http://www.southafrica.info/news/women-100811c.htm

• See roster of related articles on right side for more Aout challenges facing women in South Africa today.
• Features the comments of Javu Baloyi (speaking on behalf of South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality), a man calling upon South Africans to challenge "the social constructs resulting from patriarchy."

"Power to the Women: No Progress until Female Contribution is Recognized." Dikgang Tsa Mogale (August 2008): http://www.mogalecity.gov.za/content/pdfs/dikgang/2008/aug4.pdf

• Column by a public servant and former Sunday Sun columnist.  (Since the column he wrote for this year is no longer online, I decided to add this shorter piece.)

Kupe, Tawana. "Opinion: Media Needs to Mainstream Women." The New Age (August 9, 2011): http://www.thenewage.co.za/printstroy.aspx?news_id_1042&mid186

• Ms. Kupe, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Wits University (South Africa), is also an associate professor of media studies. Here she challenges the media to embark on "analyses, investigations and debates about the condition of women in society in the same manner they give black coverage to Mandela Day."

RESOURCES: South African Women's Resistance

"The Women’s Struggle, 1900-1994." South African History Online: http://www.sahistory.org.za/20th-century-south-africa/womens-struggle-1900-1994. For the history highlighted in this post see especially:

• "The Turbulent 1950s–Women as Defiant Activists." URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/womens-struggle-1900-1994/turbulent-1950s-women-defiant-activists
• "1956--Women’s March: Pretoria, 9 August." URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/womens-struggle-1900-1994/1956-womens-march-pretoria-9-august
• "Women’s March Interviews." URL: http://www.sahistory.org/womens-struggle-1900-1994/women’s-march-interviews

"Women in the Struggle." Overcoming Apartheid: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=30

　
"1956 Women’s March." http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=11

"Women’s Struggles." African National Congress: http://www.anc.org.za/themes.php?t=Women`s%20Struggles

• 26 documents, from 1954 to 2007, including "The Women’s Charter" and "What Women Demand"

African National Congress Women’s League: http://www.anc.org.za/wl/

TEXT: "What Women Demand." African National Congress: http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=2601&t=Women`sStruggles

TEXT: "The Women’s Charter." Access from either of these URLs:

• http://www.sahistory.org.za/womens-struggle-1900-1994/womens-charter
• http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=4666&t=Women'sStruggles

IMAGES: The Poster Book Collective. South African History Archive. Images of Defiance: South African Resistance Posters of th 1980s. Ravan Press: Johannesburg, 1991. See pages 86-87 for the following:

• "Federation of South African Women" (1987). This poster honors key figures of Fedsaw and other women leaders (Annie Silinga, Francis Baard, Albertina Sisulu, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Ray Alexander, Dora Tamana, Amina Cachalia, Liz, Mafekeng). (Full-page reproduction could be scanned to use in class.)
• Above poster online: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/image.php?id=296
• "National Women’s Day" (1984) and "Slogan Poster" (1981). These posters documents the inspiration that women itne 1980s drew from the 1956 march. The latter features the 1956 slogan, "You have tampered with the women, you have struck a rock."

PHOTO: "Women Resist the Pass Laws." Overcoming Apartheid: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/image.php?id=232

• Women demonstrated against the pass laws in Cape Town, on the same day as the massive national women's protest in Pretoria.

Women Under Apartheid. International defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, in co-opration with the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid. London, 1981.

• Find it in a public or college library. Worth the effort for its many excellent black/white photos.
• Student friendly, brief text covers the migrant labor system, family life, working women, squatter camps as well as the history of women’s struggle against apartheid.

Bernstein, Hilda. For Their Triumphs & For Their Tears: Women in Apartheid South Africa.  International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. London, 1975, 1978. Revised ed. 1985.

• Classic "devastating catalogue" of the impact of apartheid, by a woman dedicated to the struggle.
• Online (1975 edition): http://www.archive.org/details/fortheirtriumphs00bern

"Honour the Women." Pan-African News Wire: http://www.rusty-bernstein.com/hilda/panafrican_hourthewomen.htm

• Extract from the 1985 edition of Hilda Bernstein’s For Their Triumphs; covers the history of the women’s struggle, with discussion of the Defiance Campaign, the Federation of South African Women, the Freedom Charter, FSAW and the 1956 Anti-Pass March.

Daymond, M. J. et al. Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region. New York: The Feminist Pres at the City University of New York, 2003. Especially relevant to resistance in the 1950s:

• Federation of South African Women. "Women’s Charter." (Document also available online, as listed above).
• Lilian Ngoyi, "Presidential Address to the African National Congress Women’s League, Transvaal." Delivered in South Africa, 1956.
• Cherry Stephana Mogolo Sibeko, "African Women Do Not Want Passes." South Africa, 1958.
• Phyllis Ntantala, "The Widows of the Reserves." South Africa, 1958.

Walker, Cherryl. Women and Resistance in South Africa. Onyx Press: London, 1982.
Reprint: New Africa Books, 1991.

• Source of much of info provided on this topic on the SAHO site (where Walker 1991 is cited).

Black Sash–Then and Now

Black Sash. http://www.blacksash.org.za/

VIDEO: "55 Years of the Black Sash." 08:47 mins. http://www.blacksash.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2612&Itemid=242

• Concise narrative accompanies many excellent photos.
  

"The Black Sash."  South African History Online.  URL: http://sahistory/org.za/organisations/black-sash

"The Black Sash: Video Interviews." Overcoming Apartheid: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=10

• Short excerpts from 7 interviews, with links to the full interviews; see esp. Lettie Malindi, interpreter in a Black Sash office in Cape Town
• Links to two articles from The Black Sash, published in the 1950s

RESOURCES: Biographies of South African Women

South African History Online: http://www.sahistory.org/people.  Great place to explore the lives of South African women activists. Send students here to find information about both major and minor figures, for example:

• "Fatima Meer." URL: http://sahsitory.org.za/people/famtima-meer. Click "Archive" at end of this biography for more online resources.
• "Amina Cachalia." URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/amina-cachalia
• "Lizzy Adrian (Nanna) Abrahams." URL: http://www.sahistory.org/za/people/lizzy-adrian-nanna-abrahams
• "Helen Joseph." URL: http://sahistory.org.za/people/helen-joseph
• "Ray Alexander Simons." URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/rtay-alexnder-simons
• "Bertha Gxowa (Mashaba)." URL: http://sahistory.org/za/people/bertha-gxowa-mashaba
• "Nnoseng Ellen Kate Khuzwayo." URL: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nnoseng-ellen-kate-khuzwayo
  
  　

Overcoming Apartheid: People: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/listpeople.php. This section includes biographies from SAHO, notably the following:

• Frances "Ma" Baard
• Dorothy Nyembe
• Dora Tamana
  

Freedom Fighters (Three series of children’s biographies).  Awareness Publishing: South Africa.  For Series 1 a sample page, and for Series 2 and 3 several pages, are available online. This makes these links an excellent resource to use with elementary and middle school students.
Includes these biographies:

• Helen Joseph (Series 1): http://www.awareness.co.za/spreads/FF_Eng/joseph.htm
• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (Series 1): http://www.awareness.co.za/spreads/FF_Eng/winnie.htm
• Ruth First (Series 2): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF2/Ruth/Ruth-p1.htm
• Cissie Gool (Series 2): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF2/Cissie/Cissie-p1.htm
• Lilian Ngoyi (Series 2): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF2/Lilian/Lilian-p1.htm
• Walter Sisulu (Series 2): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF2/Walter/Walter-p1.htm
• Ruth Mompati (Series 3): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF3%20Web/FF3%20Mompati/Mompati-p1.htm
• Albertina Sisulu (Series 3): http://www.awareness.co.za/start-reading-book/FF3%20Web/FF3%20Albertina/Albertina-p1.htm

Albertina Sisulu

"Albertina Nontsikeleo Sisuslu." South African History Online: http://www.sahistory.org.za/node/65389

• Links at the end provide access to a "Detailed Biography." 
  Presumed source for much of this biographical information is the account by daughter Elinor Sisulu, Walter & Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime (Claremont, South Africa: David Philip, 2003).
• See also the link to "Letters: Albertina Sisulu" (annotated letters between Albertina and Walter Sisulu, during the years he was imprisoned).
  

"A Life Well-Lived."  Sunday Independent (June 6, 2010): http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/sisulu-a-life-well-lived-1.1079205

"Albertina Sisulu, Who Helped Lead Apartheid Fight, Dies at 92." New York Times (June 5, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/world/africa/06sisulu.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt

• Includes photo of with Mandela, a close friend of both Albertina and her husband Walter
  

MORE ON ARTICLES FROM New York Times online archive:

• "Apartheid Foe Gets Passport and Is Expected to Meet Bush."  New York Times (June 27, 1989): http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/27/world/apartheid-foe-gets-passport-and-is-expected-to-meet-bush.html?scp=6&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt
• "A South Africa Choice: See Husband, or Son."  New York Times (May 16, 1987): http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/world/a-south-africa-choice-see-husband-or-son.html?scp=5&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt
• "South Africa Ends a Case Against 12."  New York Times (December 10, 1985): http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/10/world/south-africa-ends-a-case-against-12.html?scp=20&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt
• "South Africa Puts 16 Blacks on Trial in a Treason Case." New York Times (August 6, 1985): http://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/06/world/south-africa-puts-16-blacks-on-trial-in-a-treason-case.html?scp=7&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt
• "A Soweto Woman Regains her Political Voice."  New York Times (August 24, 1981): http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/24/world/a-soweto-woman-regains-her-political-voice.html?scp=8&sq=albertina+sisulu&st=nyt

Lilian Ngoyi

Mphalele, Ezekiel, "Lilian Ngoyi–The Most Talked-of Woman in Politics." Drum (March 1956). Online as 2^nd comment after "Honour the Women" (URL: http://www.rusty-bernstein.com/hilda/panafrican_honourthewomen.htm)

• Lively report by one of South Africa’s leading literary figures of the 1950s/60s; useful as a primary source for perceptions of Lilian Ngoyi in 1956, giving a sense of her oratorical skills and charisma.

Smith, Gail.  "Introduction" to Lilian Ngoyi, "Presidential Address" (in Women Writing Africa; see citation above).

Bernstein, Hilda. "Isitwalandwe for Ma-Nogyi." Sechaba (August 1982). Online as 1^st comment after "Honour the Women" (URL: http://www.rusty-bernstein.com/hilda/panafrican_honourthewomen.htm)

•  "Honour" plus two comments were uploaded (apparently) as tributes to Lilian Ngoyi, who was the first women to receive the ANC’s Isitwalandwe award (1982).
   

PHOTOS: "Lillian Ngoyi." URL: http://www.africamediaonline.com/mmc/gallery/detail/african_calendar/Lillian%20Ngoyi,%20leader%20of%20ANC%20womens'%20league:%2035th%20anniversary%20of%20her%20death

• Five photos (shift cursor over each photo for historical info about it). A Commercial site (copy only for limitedfair-use in the classroom) but students will enjoy viewing these and can pick up details not readily available elsewhere.

Phyllis Naidoo

"Phyllis Naidoo."  South African History Online: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/phyllis-naidoo

PHOTO: Phyllis Naidoo. URL: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/image.php?id=163

• Show students this photo, then ask them to find out why she was banned.
  

DOCUMENT: "'But Why Must We Go?" asks a Tiny Girl who doesn't Know Why her Mother was Banned", Sunday Tribune.  By Tribute reporter February 18, 1971.  URL: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/original_docs.php?id=6

• Adapt this to help younger students understand how apartheid's restrictions and penalties affected children.

Hilda Bernstein

"Hilda Bernstein Profile." URL: http://www.rusty-bernstein.com/profile_hilda_bernstein,htm

"ANC Statement on the Death of Hilda Bernstein" and "Obituary." Pan African News Wire (September 2006): http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2006/09/anc-statement-on-death-of-hilda.html

Bernstein, Hilda and Rusty Bernstein. The World That Was Ours. 1967.

• Account of Rusty’s arrest, the Rivonia trial, and their subsequent escape from South Africa

NOTES

See full citations, with URLs, in RESOURCES.   
SAHO = South African History Online:  http://www.sahistory.org.za

1) Lilian Ngoyi, at the end of her address to the ANC Women’s League, November 1956. As quoted in WSAW (p. 244). Translated as "Praise the name of women. Praise them."

2) Barry Bearak, "Albertina Sisulu, Who Helped Lead Apartheid Fight, Dies at 92," New York Times (June 5, 2011). Reading this obituary it inspired the writing of this post.

3) Tawana Kupe, "Media Needs to Mainstream Women" (August 9, 2011).

4) Shula Marks, "Introduction," to Not Either an Experimental Doll (1987), page 24. For an account of one woman’s experience of patriarchy in Zulu society, see Zulu Woman: The Life Story of Christina Sibiya by Rebecca Hourwich Reyher (New York: The Feminist Press of the City University of New York, 1999).

5) For the history of pass law legislation see esp., "The History of Pass Laws in SA-1800s-1900s," SAHO. The official name of 1952 law was the Natives Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents Act–which replaced the earlier passbooks with a more rigorous "reference book" consisting of numerous documents. For a clear explanation of how pass laws for women were implemented (prior to 1956), see "1956–The Women’s march: Pretoria,9 August," SAHO. A photo documenting the imprisonment of women (including an Indian woman) for participating in the Defiance Campaign is reproduced in A. E. Afigbo et al., The Making of Modern Africa, Vol. 2, (Longman, 1989), page 205. The Defiance Campaign was a joint effort by the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. "Bertha Gxowa (Mashaba)," SAHO.

6) "A Short History of the Women’s League," ANC Women’s League website.

7) See "Women known to have attended the inaugural conference of the Federation of South African Women (FSAW) and the organisations which they represented," a document on the ANC website ( ttp://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=2601&t=Women`s Struggles).  Amina Cachalia’s father, an activist during the Gandhi era in South Africa, died when she was 12; she then came under the influence of Mervy Thandray of the Transvaal Indian Congress.   As a member of the TIC’s Youth Congress she met ANC leaders, including Lillian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph. Biographical sources for women mentioned in this paragraph are listed in RESOURCES: South African Women’s Biographies.

8) Both texts are available on line (see Resources). The Women’s Charter is also included in Women Writing South Africa (a wonderful compendium of primary sources), where it is preceded by a short commentary (this volume is worth a trip to the library).

9) The Freedom Charter is online (see GENERAL RESOURCES).

10) Gail Smith, "Introduction" to Lilian Ngoyi, "Presidential Address" (in Women Writing Africa).

11) See biographies of these women.

12) This convergence (as well as the memorability of the songs) is confirmed in "Women’s March Interviews," SAHO. See also the SAHO biographies of Ray Alexander Simons and Dorothy Nyembe.

13) "1956--Women’s March: Pretoria, 9 August," SAHO.

14) See biographies of Lilian Nogyi.

15) For an acct of this trial see Mandela, Long Journey (1995), pp. 239-61. The specific charge was "treason in form of conspiracy to overthrow state by violence and replace it with a state based on communism" (Leonard Thompson, A History of South Africa, page 209.). For primary sources see "The Treason Trial," Overcoming Apartheid (URL: http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=12).  Charges against Nyembe were dropped 1957 (see "Dorothy Nyembe," SAHO).

16) Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (Little, Brown and Company, 1995 paperback edition), page 219.

17) See Meer and Naidoo biographies, SAHO.

18) See Black Sash section in Resources: South African Women’s Resistance.