Special attention is paid to the biographical accounts of three women who were members of the Black Sash organization in the Natal Midlands region. The resulting work is a general study of the establishment and development of Black Sasha in the Natal Midlands. By examining the biographies of these women, this thesis will gain new knowledge about the history of the Black Sash organization in the Natal Midlands.
Mary Kleinenberg, a past chairman and member of the Black Sash in the Natal Midlands Region. This study examined the biographical narratives of only three female activists who were members of the Black Sash in the Natal Midlands.
The structure of the dissertation
I also used the Digital Innovation South Africa (DISA) which consists of the Black Sash collection such as newspaper clippings, pamphlets and journals. With the establishment of the Black Sash, the organization became a vehicle for liberal women to fight the apartheid system. This led to the alienation of the Black Sash older members, who were used to a less militant organization.
However, third-generation Black Sasha activists pushed for a change in the organization, demanding a more gender-sensitive approach. This chapter will therefore examine how gender issues became integral to the Black Sash movement in the Natal Midlands as a new generation of young scholars, educated by feminism, joined the organisation.
CHAPTER TWO
Introduction
The rapid growth of the African population in the settlement meant that conflict over land was imminent. To control the Africans in the reserves and districts, the government established its own pubs. This is due to the high standard of living in the cities caused by the Second World War.157.
The important role women played in the Defiance campaign resulted in their mass arrest. However, due to the lack of a multiracial women's organization, their participation in the anti-apartheid movement was sporadic.
CHAPTER THREE
She was also a critic of the apartheid system as she fully believed that it was wrong and immoral. The economic and political context of the growth of the Progressive Federal Party in South Africa. The proviso to the Separate Amenities Act was enacted by the South African government in 1953.
In the wake of the Sharpeville massacre in 1961, South Africa faced a flight of foreign capital. 221 Hackland, “The economic and political context of the growth of the Progressive Federal Party in South Africa. Colin was a staunch member of the African Christian Institute and the South African Liberal Party.
Brian, who was a minister, did not spend most of the time in the Institute office as he had a family to support. One of the publications she was exposed to that also raised her awareness was Staffrider magazine. Racial desegregation and the institutionalization of 'race' in university management: the case of the University of Cape Town".
Harley was part of the protest and had strong views against the apartheid system due to her political upbringing. Harley's participation in the student movement was due to the strong views she had against the apartheid system as a result of her political upbringing. This chapter has revealed that the activism of the Black Sash activists in the Natal Midlands was shaped and defined by their parents' political involvement from an early age.
CHAPTER FOUR
These organizations were distinctive in their social base, as the Black Sash operated in the white political system. Helen Joseph, an executive member of the FEDSAW, had participated in the Black Sash vigil. The FEDSAW director invited the Black Sash movement to join them in supporting the mass demonstration against the pass laws.
During this time, most Black Sash members were conservative and did not want to be associated with a communist-influenced organization. The Athlone Consultancy was located in the same building as the ANCWL offices, marking an association of the Black Sash with the ANC. 74 government of the day.”313 The group's protest stands were more comfortable because there was a sense of solidarity among the Black Sash women in the Natal Midlands.
She was also one of the first volunteers to serve in the Black Sash Pietermaritzburg Advice Office when it was established in 1975. 334 To illustrate this point, we can refer to the testimony of Mary Kleinenberg who decided to join the Black Sash in the Natal Midlands in 1980. During this period the collaborative work on races of the Black Sash with other women's organizations in Natal increased significantly.
Using the stories of the protagonists, this chapter explored the central role played by the Black Sash in the Natal Midlands in supporting the struggle by taking on roles as peacemakers. Through the stories of these women, this chapter also shed light on the attitude of the Black Sash to the political violence in Pietermaritzburg. Finally, this chapter emphasized the important role the Black Sash plays in women's collective resistance and collaborative work across races.
CHAPTER FIVE
The women's issue began to rise more clearly in the 1980s, as a result of the renaissance of mass grassroots movements. 429 Fester, “Women's Organizations in the Western Cape: Vehicles for Gender Struggle or Instruments of Subjugation?”, 52. This can be attributed to the younger member joining the organization in the early 1980s, which saw gender issues and feminists who entered the internal debate in the Black Belt.
Jill Wentzel argues that the Black Sash was moving away from its traditional liberal self in the mid-1980s. To illustrate this point, I can refer to the testimony of Anna Harley, who in 1990 was involved in the establishment of the Gender Group of the Natal Midlands Black Sash. Harley claims that her participation in the Black Sash sensitized her to gender issues during this period. .
We formed a women's group in Sash, which was quite interesting as it was a women's organization after all. The Black Sash in the Natal Midlands was very active in socio-economic and socio-environmental issues. In the debates prior to the adoption of the resolution, the Black Sash members argued that a ban on abortion would result in the death of many disadvantaged women, primarily young black women.
This chapter has used the narratives of Anne Harley and Mary Kleinenberg to highlight how the Black Sash in the Natal Midlands negotiated and challenged gender issues. This produced new knowledge on the issue of gender issues in the third generation of Black Sash activists. This chapter also argued that the influx of younger members into the Black Sash led to gender.
CHAPTER SIX
When her mother was unavailable, Kerchhoff asked her neighborhood friends to babysit her children. After the formation of the UDF, there was a commitment from the people in the Pietermaritzburg areas to join. At the University of Natal, in the 1980s, she majored in English and Psychology and taught for three years.
Her involvement in the ECC did not enhance her teaching career in a whites-only Christian national education system. However, the rest of her family members were horrified by her political involvement and participation in the organization when she joined the Black Sash in 1979. Her political involvement in the Black Sash and in the anti-apartheid movement during this period took a toll on her life when she began to lose some of her close friends.
In the early days I lost some friends – one man said Black Sash women were wasting their time standing in sensible shoes and holding placards that didn't interest anyone. Another said actions like those of the Black Sash women were completely useless as South Africa would follow in Zimbabwe's footsteps.502. He actually encouraged her participation in the anti-apartheid movement and was an armchair politician who was very interested in politics, although he did not act on it.
As discussed in the method, there were contemporary issues that Kleinenberg and Harley were not prepared to discuss in their private lives. They successfully fulfilled their roles as wives, mothers and political activists in the anti-apartheid movement. Although they often worked in the background, they must always be seen as equal partners in the anti-apartheid movement.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It has also neglected Pietermaritzburg's important contribution to the national struggle in South Africa. Women's involvement in the anti-apartheid movement in the Natal Midlands is an aspect that has been overlooked by academics. The visibility of the Black Sash members in the UDF campaigns served as a deterrent to the police.
They faced social ostracism and political harassment because of their political involvement in the Black Sash and the anti-apartheid movement. 122 resulted in the development of a complex relationship between other women's organizations and the Black Sash in Pietermaritzburg. This study further outlined how the patriarchy that existed in Pietermaritzburg limited women's participation in the struggle against apartheid.
It is only through this framework that the contribution of women in the Natal Midlands can be moved from the margins to the center of South African liberation narratives. Aitchison, John, “Counting the Dead: The Course and Pattern of Political Violence in the Natal Midlands. Bonnin, Deborah Rosemary, "Class Consciousness and Conflict in the Midlands Natal The Case of the BTR Sarmcol Workers".
Detention without trial in South Africa: the abuse of human rights as a state strategy in the late 1980s". The purpose of the study is to document the role and contributions of Black Sash women in the anti-apartheid struggle in the Natal Midlands region. This study will pay special attention to the biographical story of three women who were members of the Black Sash organization in the Natal Midlands region.
What were the reactions of your family, spouse, parents to your participation in the Black Sash. What were the successes and failures of the Black Sash movement in the Natal Midlands.
