Native Life in South Africa - Paperback
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Native Life in South Africa (1916) is a book by Solomon T. Plaatje. Written while Plaatje was serving as General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress, the work shows the influence of American activist and socialist historian W. E. B. Du Bois, whom Plaatje met and befriended. Using historical analysis and firsthand accounts from native South Africans, Plaatje exposes the cruelty of colonialism and analyzes the significance of the 1913 Natives' Land Act. "Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth." Native Life in South Africa begins with the passage of the 1913 Natives' Land Act, which made it illegal for Black South Africans to lease and purchase land outside of government designated reserves. The act, which was the first of many segregation laws passed by the Union Parliament, was devastating to millions of poor South African natives, most of whom relied on leasing land from white farmers to survive.Native Life in South Africa is a classic of South African literature reimagined for modern readers.
Solomon T. Plaatje (1876-1932) was a South African linguist, politician, writer, and translator. Born in the Orange Free State, he was raised in a family of eight sons by Johannes and Martha of the Tswana nation. At four, he moved with his parents to Pniel, Cape Colony, where he received an education from local missionaries. Plaatje became at teacher at age 15 before leaving school two years later to work at the Kimberley Post Office. At 21, he earned the right to vote as a native South African fluent in English and Dutch, but would lose access to the ballot with the 1910 Union of South Africa. Plaatje was a prominent activist for African liberation and suffrage, a founding member of the South African Native National Congress, and a gifted translator who introduced the works of William Shakespeare to a Tswana speaking audience. During a trip to the United States, he met Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois, and in England acted in theatrical impresario George Lattimore's 1923 Cradle of the World show. Plaatje wrote several works of literature, including The Boer War Diary (1973), Native Life in South Africa (1916), and Mhudi (1930). The latter was the first novel written by a Black South African in English.
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