Historical Organization
South African Indian Congress
South African Indian Congress
Also known as: SAIC
Details
Organization Timeline
Indian South Africans begin the Passive Resistance Campaign
📅 13 June 1946Resisters occupied land in Durban to defy the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, known as the Ghetto Act. More than 2,000 people were eventually imprisoned.
The first national Freedom Day protest takes place
📅 26 June 1950The ANC and allied organizations organized a stay-at-home and day of mourning following the May Day killings and in protest against apartheid laws.
Mass meetings protest the Van Riebeeck tercentenary
📅 6 April 1952While the state celebrated three centuries of white settlement, the ANC and SAIC held mass meetings and called for defiance of six discriminatory laws.
Volunteers pledge themselves to the Defiance Campaign
📅 22 June 1952Thousands attended the Day of the Volunteers shortly before civil disobedience began. Participants committed themselves to disciplined, nonviolent defiance of apartheid laws.
The Defiance Campaign begins
📅 26 June 1952Multiracial groups deliberately violated curfews, pass laws and segregation regulations. More than 8,000 volunteers were arrested during the country's largest civil-disobedience campaign to that date.
Police arrest leaders of the Defiance Campaign
📅 30 July 1952Authorities arrested campaign leaders under the Suppression of Communism Act in an attempt to disrupt the expanding civil-disobedience movement.
Defiance Campaign leaders are convicted
📅 2 December 1952Twenty campaign leaders were convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act and received suspended prison sentences. Repression intensified but the campaign greatly expanded ANC membership.
The Congress of the People opens at Kliptown
📅 25 June 1955Nearly 3,000 delegates and observers gathered to debate demands collected from communities across South Africa for a democratic and nonracial future.