India brings discriminatory treatment in South Africa before the UN

Returning Black veteran Isaac Woodard challenged a bus driver’s treatment and was removed from the bus in South Carolina. Police beat him and permanently blinded him. Campaigning around his case...

Ratings at HMIS Talwar in Bombay began a strike over food and living conditions that developed into a wider naval revolt. Their demands and organizing challenged the authority of British officers over...

Aboriginal workers began coordinated strike action on pastoral stations in the Pilbara. Clancy McKenna and Dooley Bin Bin helped organize the struggle for pay and better conditions. Later walk-offs...

The Supreme Court overturned Irene Morgan’s conviction for refusing segregated seating on an interstate bus. The ruling addressed an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce. Morgan’s resistance...

Indian activists launched passive resistance against the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act by occupying a restricted site in Durban. Volunteers courted arrest rather than accept...

African mineworkers on the Witwatersrand struck for a minimum wage of ten shillings a day and better working conditions. Police repression helped break the strike. Their collective withdrawal of...

Viola Desmond refused to leave the main-floor seating reserved for white patrons at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. Police removed and arrested her, and a tax charge was used against her. Her...

General Assembly resolution 44(I) called for the treatment of Indians in South Africa to conform to international obligations and the UN Charter. Indian diplomacy and South African campaigners...

Alfred Xuma, Monty Naicker and Yusuf Dadoo signed a joint declaration of cooperation between the ANC and the Natal and Transvaal Indian Congresses. The pact sought coordinated struggle against...

An armed uprising began in Madagascar against French colonial domination. French forces responded with severe repression, including torture and summary executions. The struggle challenged the right of...