LibGuides: Primary Sources: Africa: South Africa

Online Sources: South Africa & Apartheid

Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa
The liberation of Southern Africa and the dismantling of the Apartheid regime was one of the major political developments of the 20th century, with far-reaching consequences for people throughout Africa and around the globe. This collection focuses on the complex and varied liberation struggles in the region, with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It brings together materials from various archives and libraries throughout the world documenting colonial rule, dispersion of exiles, international intervention, and the worldwide networks that supported successive generations of resistance within the region.

Boer Wars
Cuba and Southern Africa
more... less...

"Cuban documents about Havana's policy toward Southern Africa in the final fifteen years of the Cold War. Obtained by Piero Gleijeses for his book "Visions of Freedom." See his introduction to the collection for more information. (Image, Poster of President Agostinho Neto and Fidel Castro after Angolan independence celebration)"
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone - Project Gutenberg
more... less...

David Livingstone was born in Scotland, received his medical degree from the University of Glasgow, and was sent to South Africa by the London Missionary Society. Circumstances led him to try to meet the material needs as well as the spiritual needs of the people he went to, and while promoting trade and trying to end slavery, he became the first European to cross the continent of Africa, which story is related in this book. Description from Project Gutenberg
Native Labour in South Africa (1903)
more... less...

A report of a public meeting, jointly convened by the Aborigines protective society and the British and foreign anti-slavery society, which was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on 29th April, 1903.
Nelson Mandela Foundation
more... less...

Provides access to materials such as speeches, photographs, videos, etc. related to Nelson Mandela.
South African Nuclear History
more... less...

"This collection provides a look at nearly twenty-five years of South African nuclear policy. These documents shed new light on the country’s unique nuclear history, from early uranium supply arrangements under the United States-South Africa Atomic Energy Bilateral to the South African response to the September 1979 Vela incident, through the early 1990s when it announced the existence and subsequent destruction of its nuclear program."
Olive Schreiner Letters Online (1871-1920)
more... less...

"The feminist and socialist writer and social theorist Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) was one of the most important - and radical - social commentators of her day."

Book Sources: South Africa & Apartheid

A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
Click the title for location and availability information.

Off campus access instructions (for e-books)

Apartheid in South Africa: A Brief History with Documents by David M. Gordon
Call Number: DT1757 .G67 2017

ISBN: 1457665549
Blue Book on Native Affairs - 1910 by Union of South Africa, Department of Native Affairs
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust

Description based on: 1910.
"Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of His Excellency the Governor General."
The Challenge of Apartheid: UK-South African Relations, 1985-1986 by Patrick Salmon (Editor)
Call Number: Online - Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 9781315456324
From the South African Past : Narratives, Documents, and Debates by John A. Williams
Call Number: DT1709 .W55 1997

ISBN: 066928789X

This volume presents primary source materials that illuminate the formation of the modern multiracial society of South Africa.
Long Walk to Freedom : the Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela
Call Number: DT1949.M35 A3 1994

ISBN: 0316545856

Contents: A country childhood -- Johannesburg -- Birth of a freedom fighter -- The struggle is my life -- Treason -- The black pimpernel --Rivonia -- Robben Island: the dark years -- Robben Island: beginning to hope -- Talking with the enemy -- Freedom.
Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress by Sheridan Johns (Editor); R. Hunt Davis (Editor)
Call Number: DT1757 .M36 1991

ISBN: 0195057848

The Struggle Against Apartheid, 1948-1990: A Documentary Survey
Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend by Christo Brand; Barbara Jones
Call Number: DT1974 .B74 2014

ISBN: 1250055261
Nelson Mandela : the Struggle is My Life by Nelson Mandela
Call Number: DT779.955.M355 N4 1986

ISBN: 0904759695

His speeches and writings brought together with historical documents and accounts of Mandela in prison by fellow-prisoners
A Part of My Soul Went with Him by Winnie Mandela
Call Number: DT1949.M36 A3 1985

ISBN: 0393302903

Edited by Anne Benjamin and adapted by Mary Benson.
Pictorial History of the Great Trek by C. F. J. Muller
Call Number: DT773.M958 P6

ISBN: 0624012298

visual documents illustrating the Great Trek
Report from the Select Committee on the Establishment of a Diamond Cutting Industry... by South Africa
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust

in South Africa, together with the proceedings of the committee, minutes of evidence and appendix.
[Cape Town, 1913]
Scriptures of the amaNazaretha of EKuphaKameni by Shembe, Isaiah et.al.
Call Number: Online - Ebsco

ISBN: 9781895176339

... presents, for the first time in English, the major scriptures of the best-known of all African Independent Churches, the amaNazaretha of South Africa. The translation of the Zulu prophet Isaiah Shembe's work was made by his grandson Londa Shembe. Description from Amazon.com
Season in Paradise by Breyten Breytenbach; Rike Vaughan (Translator)
Call Number: PT6592.12.R4 S4513 1994

ISBN: 0156001330

"A white South African writer opposed to apartheid returns to South Africa after a long exile."
South Africa and the United States: The Declassified History by Kenneth Mokoena (Editor)
Call Number: E183.8.S6 S68 1993

ISBN: 9781565840812
Travels in South Africa by John Campbell
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust

Undertaken at the Request of the Missionary Society
Voices from Capetown: Oral Histories of Teachers Who Fought Apartheid
Call Number: Online - EBSCO

ISBN: 0820467685

Captures the oral histories of twenty South African teachers who connected pedagogy and politics to fight against the apartheid regime.Description from EBSCOHost database
When They Came for Me : The Hidden Diary of an Apartheid Prisoner by John R. Schlapobersky
Call Number: Online - Ebook Central

ISBN: 9781789209075
From Dias to Vorster by Ruth E. Gordon and Clive J. Talbot
Call Number: DT767 .G6

ISBN: 0625013875

Source material on South African history 1488-1975

Search for More

Suggested terms to look for include - diary, diaries, letters, papers, documents, documentary or correspondence.

Combine these these terms with the event or person you are researching. (example: civil war diary)

Also search by subject for specific people and events, then scan the titles for those keywords or others such as memoirs, autobiography, report, or personal narratives.

An additional option is to do a search on a topic and use the "Resource Type" limiter on the left side of the results and choose the option "Primary Sources" - please note this is extremely limiting as most primary source materials are not marked in records with this resource type and you will miss seeing a large number of useful items.