Browse Items (81 total)

Upon leaving IJR’s Youth Dialogue, we were finally able to visit Robben Island. This was a maximum-security prison used to isolate political prisoners during the 17th-20th century and it also served as the military base and a hospital to…

Before even arriving in South Africa, we were able to work on a couple different projects. Some people worked with Dr. Fosl on archival research, while the other half of us worked on a project called Womanspirit. This is a program is aimed at…

While in Cape Town I assisted Dr. Fosl with her research on Amy Thornton, a member of the South African Communist Party and ANC anti-apartheid freedom fighter. Amy became involved with the Communist Party and the anti-apartheid movement when she was…

The visit to the Cape of Good Hope was one of the highlights of the entire visit as far as excitement could go. Imagine actually being given the unique opportunity to visit this Cape, around which the legendary colonizing trader Vasco Da Gama, had…

Today I would like to discuss a unique and interesting topic that came up for discussion in Amy Thornton’s house and also when we were with Tanya Barben. Coming from a country that has always been in strong support of the legitimate rights of…

How does one even go about speaking of spilt blood? Can words revive and revere? I’m at a loss for words when I think the traumas suffered by oppressed people across the globe. It wasn’t long ago (19 years to be exact), that Black and immigrant…

The challenge that many South Africans are tackling on is that of the counter narrative. Often, this is a struggle for many people globally – being heard. I often want to run to my hooyo (mom) and abo (dad) and write their stories in fear of a…

While Dr. Fosl and I were reviewing papers at Amy Thornton's home, she showed us a copy of the ballot used in South Africa's first post-apartheid democratic National Assembly election on April 27, 1994.

Boasting 19 parties, the ballot illustrates…

Founded in 1955, the Black Sash was an organization of white, primarily upper-class women dedicated to ending the injustice of apartheid. They used their privilege to campaign against disenfranchisement and pass laws.

In the late 1950s the Black…

In which Cape Town speaks for itself.

“[Apartheid] was a society where we didn’t listen to one another. This stunts the growth of not only the oppressed but also the oppressor.”—Stan Henkeman, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, on the…