Chapter · South Africa · History
The law said who you were
Sharpeville, a suburban farm, and four hours from the dock
In 1950 a South African office decided your racial group and wrote it on a register. This path follows what that produced in fourteen years, through three documents you can still read: a report written on the day of Sharpeville, a dossier seized on a suburban farm, and the transcript of a four-hour statement made from the dock.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1Two minutes, and sixty-nine deadAt Sharpeville, on 21 March 1960, police fire for two minutes into a crowd that had come to be arrested without its passes: sixty-nine dead, many of them hit in the back. After that, legal opposition no longer exists.10 min
- 2The farm nobody looked at twiceA suburban farm bought by a front company, a lawyer dressed as a gardener, and one meeting too many: on 11 July 1963 the police leave Rivonia with the papers that will make ten men defendants for sabotage.10 min
- 3Four hours from the dockOn 20 April 1964 a defendant already serving five years speaks for four hours from the dock, admits the sabotage, explains why, and ends on an ideal he says he is prepared to die for. He will get life.11 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.