📅 2 April 1944
A younger generation formed the Youth League to press the ANC toward mass action and African nationalism. Its founders included Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo.
📅 17 December 1949
The programme called for boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and non-cooperation. It marked a shift from petitions toward mass mobilization against white minority rule.
📅 1 May 1950
The ANC, Communist Party and trade unions called workers to stay home for political rights and against repression. Police killed at least eighteen people in clashes on the Witwatersrand.
📅 26 June 1950
The ANC and allied organizations organized a stay-at-home and day of mourning following the May Day killings and in protest against apartheid laws.
📅 6 April 1952
While the state celebrated three centuries of white settlement, the ANC and SAIC held mass meetings and called for defiance of six discriminatory laws.
📅 26 June 1952
Multiracial 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.
📅 30 July 1952
Authorities arrested campaign leaders under the Suppression of Communism Act in an attempt to disrupt the expanding civil-disobedience movement.
📅 2 December 1952
Twenty campaign leaders were convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act and received suspended prison sentences. Repression intensified but the campaign greatly expanded ANC membership.
📅 25 June 1955
Nearly 3,000 delegates and observers gathered to debate demands collected from communities across South Africa for a democratic and nonracial future.
📅 5 December 1956
Police raids across the country led to the arrest of 156 activists of different racial backgrounds. The resulting Treason Trial attempted to criminalize the Freedom Charter movement.
📅 14 March 1960
After years of prosecution, defence lawyers began presenting the case for the activists accused of plotting to overthrow the state. The proceedings had already imposed heavy costs on the Congress...
📅 7 October 1960
Bram Fischer completed the defence case for the remaining accused, bringing the long political prosecution closer to judgment.
📅 29 March 1961
After a trial lasting more than four years, the remaining defendants were found not guilty. The judgment was a major defeat for the state's attempt to criminalize the Congress movement.
📅 29 May 1961
The ANC-organized action opposed the establishment of a white republic without democratic participation by the Black majority. Large numbers of workers stayed home despite intimidation.
📅 16 December 1961
After peaceful political activity was outlawed and repressed, MK announced itself through attacks on state installations. Its early strategy sought to avoid loss of life.
📅 26 June 1963
Sisulu spoke through a clandestine station after the ANC's banning, demonstrating that the organization continued communicating and organizing underground.
📅 11 July 1963
Police arrested much of the underground leadership at Rivonia and seized documents relating to MK strategy. The raid led directly to the Rivonia Trial.
📅 9 October 1963
Eleven defendants were charged with sabotage and conspiracy following the Liliesleaf raid. The political trial threatened the accused with the death penalty.
📅 12 June 1964
Eight defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death. Their removal weakened internal structures but made the trial a worldwide symbol of resistance.
📅 4 April 1980
ANC combatants used rifles, rockets and grenades and scattered leaflets demanding Walter Sisulu's release from Robben Island.
📅 31 March 1982
Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba and Andrew Mlangeni were moved from Robben Island, partly as the state began considering political contacts.
📅 15 October 1989
Walter Sisulu and six other veteran leaders left prison, signalling that the government was preparing for negotiations with the liberation movement.
📅 29 October 1989
Tens of thousands gathered at Soccer City to hear Walter Sisulu and other veterans publicly reaffirm the liberation movement's programme.
📅 14 December 1990
Delegates demanded removal of obstacles to negotiation, retained sanctions pressure and called 1991 a year of mass action.
📅 2 July 1991
Delegates rebuilt the legal mass organization and prepared it for negotiations and electoral politics.
📅 5 July 1991
Mandela succeeded Oliver Tambo, while Walter Sisulu became deputy president and Cyril Ramaphosa secretary-general.
