Database Trial: Apartheid South Africa

Cowles Library is pleased to announce a trial for Adam Matthew’s Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1966 archive collection. Due to terms of the trial, this database can only be accessed from on-campus.

Apartheid South Africa 1948-1980

Apartheid South Africa makes available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices spanning the period 1948 to 1980.
The launch of National Party apartheid policies in 1948 heralded 40 years of white dominance over South African business, politics and society. Punitive restrictions placed on travel, education, work and political activism instigated the formation of organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), saw support increase for the Communist Party and fuelled the growth of international anti-apartheid organisations.

These previously restricted letters, diplomatic dispatches, reports, trial papers, activist biographies and first-hand accounts give unprecedented access to South Africa’s apartheid regime. Files explore the relationship of the international community with South Africa and chart increasing civil unrest against a backdrop of waning colonialism and mounting world condemnation.

This resource is being released in three sections over the next six months: 1948-1966 (available now), 1967-1975 (coming December 2014), 1976-1980 (coming March 2015).

Leave a reply

Scroll to Top