Women establish FEDSAW across racial divisions

Activists held mass demonstrations as the government celebrated the tercentenary of Jan van Riebeeck’s arrival. The protests prepared resistance to unjust laws and challenged the public celebration of...

Volunteers deliberately violated apartheid restrictions in the Defiance Campaign organized by the ANC and its allies. Participants courted arrest through disciplined collective action. The campaign...

The General Assembly expanded its consideration of discrimination in South Africa to the wider apartheid question. International attention moved beyond the treatment of one community toward the...

Governor Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya during the struggle against colonial rule associated with Mau Mau. Emergency powers enabled intensified repression. The confrontation...

Black residents of Baton Rouge began a bus boycott against discriminatory seating arrangements. The United Defense League and T. J. Jemison helped organize collective pressure and alternative...

Vietnamese forces defeated the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu after a sustained siege. Military organization and civilian support helped confront an imperial army. The victory demonstrated the...

The Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The decision grew from the actions of families, students and lawyers in several communities. It challenged the...

The Geneva Conference issued its final declaration concerning peace in Indochina after the defeat of French forces. It addressed sovereignty and a provisional military division of Vietnam, with...

The National Liberation Front issued a proclamation announcing its independence programme as armed actions began. It demanded restoration of Algerian sovereignty and the removal of colonial laws...

Police forcibly removed families from Sophiatown to Meadowlands despite community opposition to removal. The operation advanced apartheid’s spatial ordering of urban life. Housing and land were...