Native Life in South Africa - Paperback

by Solomon T. Plaatje (Author), Mint Editions (Contribution by)

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.

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When Governor-General of the Union of South Africa Herbert Gladstone signed the Natives' Land Act in 1913, he knowingly condemned nearly five million Black South Africans to poverty and starvation. In Native Life in South Africa, Solomon T. Plaatje provides a personal and political perspective on the cruelty of colonialism and the perseverance of colonial subjects.