Download or read book My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa written by Philip Hummel and published by Author House. This book was released on 2011-01-25 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a short collection of memories about being white and living in South Africa during Apartheid. I wrote this book for the reader to easily understand what it was like to live in this environment. It is not a history lesson, but some personal experiences that I went through living in South Africa at the time. Living through apartheid I never even realized that it even existed, because we were brought up to believe that it was normal. Life was paradise for me and hell for others! Many of us did not know or care, and even if we did try to change the system, it would have resulted in prison or death. We believed that changing apartheid would have caused the country to fall into the hands of the communists, and many white people were fearful that black rule would have destroyed South Africa and their lives. The other side of the coin is that I cant comprehend what the lives of most blacks was like, which was excruciatingly difficult, something that I didnt personally experience. Our history books never taught us anything good about blacks. I cant remember ever learning anything positive that blacks did. What I did learn was that they were lazy, uneducated, dangerous, and drank a lot. Stay away from them, and if they bother you call the police. There were serious injustices in South Africa, and many black people suffered under the Apartheid Regime.
Download or read book My Race written by Lorraine Lotzof Abramson and published by Dbm Press, LLC. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My Race is the memoir of a gifted Jewish athlete growing up under the apartheid system of South Africa. As both an outsider excluded from the conservative Christian mainstream and an insider who reaped many of the benefits of a society founded on white supremacy, South African track star Lorraine Lotzof Abramson had a unique vantage point on the apartheid experience. Her grandparents left Eastern Europe to escape oppression, only to find themselves in another oppressive society. This time, by virtue of their white skin, they were on the same side of the fence as the oppressors. Lorraine's first-hand account shares her ambitions, her achievements, her losses, her family ties and her growing unease with the system of social inequality that simultaneously excluded her and celebrated her. Along the way, Lorraine learns that the real race the marathon that is a long and eventful human life is a journey towards compassion.
Download or read book Born a Crime written by Trevor Noah and published by One World. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid “Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award • Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
Download or read book Ja No Man written by Richard Poplak and published by Penguin Books Canada. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Boet,"said Kevin, "there's a jazz somewhere down by the assembly hall where okes can do what they smaak, and I hear from reliable sources that it's lekker down there." Like most children of the 1970s and 1980s, Richard Poplak grew up obsessed with pop culture. Watching The Cosby Show, listening to Guns N'Roses, and quoting lines from Mad Max movies were part of his everyday life. But in Richard's country, South Africa, censorship in the newspapers, military training at school, and different rules for different races were also just a part of everyday life. It was, as Richard says, "a different kind of normal." Ja, No, Man articulates what it was like to live through Apartheid as a white, Jewish boy in suburban Johannesburg. Told with extraordinary humour and self-awareness, Richard's story brings his gradual understanding of the difference between his country and the rest of the world vividly to life. A startlingly original memoir that veers sharply from the quotidian to the bizarre and back again, Ja, No, Man is an enlightening, darkly hilarious, and, at times, disturbing read.
Download or read book Children Apartheid written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book White Schooldays written by Isme Bennie and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a young girl, Ismé Bennie didn't realize how privileged she was. A white South African growing up during the apartheid era, her life was one of pleasure. She was a child at play under the warm African sun. As she grew, however, and became more aware of the suffering of the black community in her country, she began to understand the evils of apartheid in a way that only those who lived through it can. White Schooldays is a reflection on the relative normalcy of Bennie's life in the 1940s and 1950s-a life filled with her pets, family, sports, and friends. As a Jew, Bennie was a minority within a minority, but she still enjoyed the benefits of life as a white South African. Her everyday pleasurable experiences stand in stark contrast to the violence, discrimination, and political upheaval that went on around her. As Bennie changed from a girl to a woman, the bliss of ignorance faded away. White Schooldays is Bennie's homage to a way of life that was special and beautiful for those who were privileged enough to lead it...and a look at the political reality of the times to keep it all in perspective.
Download or read book Hum If You Don t Know the Words written by Bianca Marais and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin’s parents are left dead and Beauty’s daughter goes missing. After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection. Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family.
Download or read book Growing Up in White South Africa written by Neville Herrington and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-23 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This story of a middle-class white South African family unfolds between the years 1939 and 1964 - a transformative period in South Africa's political landscape. It is told through the eyes and experiences of the younger son and his rite of passage into a country of racial segregation that gradually opens his eyes to the many injustices imposed upon the majority of the country's population, coupled with a realization that his white privileges are sustained at the brutal expense of others.On a personal level the narrative is a romping journey through the adventures of post-war youth searching for self-identity in a rapidly changing world. It is also a spiritual journey and a breakaway from religious bigotry and prejudice. It is very funny, romantic and adventurous with many young people expressing greater sexual freedom than their parents and grandparents, as they enter an increasingly technological age where the stars are now the limit. The reader is introduced to a tapestry of many fascinating characters reflecting the social and political milieu of the time. To sanitize the vulgarity of its protagonist and his friends in their sometimes wild behavior and language, would be an injustice to the reality of their varied experiences, immature and lacking in discernment as they were at times.As the narration is told in the first person, the storyteller concedes that his account of the people and events recorded may find contradiction and correction in the memory of others who were also there at the time, but that is the nature of any shared experience.About the AuthorNEVILLE HERRINGTON is a former SABC radio journalist and senior lecturer in the Department of Speech and Drama at the University of Natal in Durban; he wrote and directed the double-bill "Strike" and "On Strike" which marked the opening of the university's Square Space Theatre and his political satire, "on Strike", was among the dramatic works chosen to celebrate the opening of the Asoka Theatre. He also wrote "Ulster of the Southern Cross", "The Sullivans of Skeerport", "Still Life" and "The Thorn Child" which played at the City Centre Theatre in Durban, and the Upstairs of the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. He is a recipient of a Durban Critics' Circle award for his 'distinguished contribution to the arts in Natal' and is the author of two new historical novels on the Anglo Boer War: "England Wants Your Gold" and "The Irish Boer Woman" both of which are available on Amazon books and Kindle. He has a PhD in TV drama and recently co-produced, with his wife Sandra, 'The Flawed Genius of Jan Smuts,' - a major drama-documentary set against the Anglo Boer War and the 1st and 2nd World Wars which is available in dvd format on Amazon.
Download or read book It s Trevor Noah Born a Crime written by Trevor Noah and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, shares his personal story and the injustices he faced while growing up half black, half white in South Africa under and after apartheid in this New York Times bestselling young readers' adaptation of his adult memoir. “A piercing reminder that every mad life--even yours--could end up a masterpiece." --JASON REYNOLDS, New York Times bestselling author We do horrible things to one another because we don’t see the person it affects. . . . We don’t see them as people. Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, shares his remarkable story of growing up in South Africa with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child to exist. But he did exist--and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his keen smarts and humor to navigate a harsh life under a racist government. In a country where racism barred blacks from social, educational, and economic opportunity, Trevor surmounted staggering obstacles and created a promising future for himself thanks to his mom’s unwavering love and indomitable will. This honest and poignant memoir adapted from the #1 New York Times bestseller Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood will astound and inspire readers as well as offer a fascinating perspective on South Africa’s tumultuous racial history. BORN A CRIME IS SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING OSCAR WINNER LUPITA NYONG'O!
Download or read book Long Walk to Freedom written by Nelson Mandela and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2008-03-11 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history – and then go out and change it." –President Barack Obama Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. After his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela was at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is still revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality. Long Walk to Freedom is his moving and exhilarating autobiography, destined to take its place among the finest memoirs of history's greatest figures. Here for the first time, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela told the extraordinary story of his life -- an epic of struggle, setback, renewed hope, and ultimate triumph. The book that inspired the major motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Download or read book Ja No Man written by Richard Poplak and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ja, No, Man is an eerily familiar portrayal of the life of an ordinary white South African growing up during Apartheid-era South Africa. Told with extraordinary humour and self-awareness, Poplak's story brings his gradual understanding of the difference between his country and the rest of the world vividly to life. A startlingly original memoir that veers sharply from the quotidian to the bizarre and back again, Ja, No, Man is an enlightening, darkly hilarious, and, at times, disturbing read.
Download or read book Behind the Walled Garden of Apartheid written by Claire Datnow and published by Media Mint Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set against the backdrop of the draconian apartheid regime, Behind the Walled Garden of Apartheid, Datnow’s memoir of growing up in South Africa deftly conjures up the era's blatant racism and the rich African landscape. The author vividly recreates her growing up years as white and Jewish at the height of the apartheid regime from 1948-1965, and her struggle as a young adult to come to terms with the wrongdoings of that dark era. The memoir is both a fascinating historical account and an intriguing personal narrative painted with humor and sensitivity.
Download or read book Under Our Skin written by Donald McRae and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don McRae grew up in a South Africa where his father would call the black men he met 'boy' and where his mother insisted that their black servants used tin mugs, plates and cutlery as they ate the family's left-over food in the backyard of their grand suburban property. The McRaes, like so many white people, seemed oblivious to the violent injustices of apartheid. As the author grew up, the political differences between father and son widened and when Don refused to join up for National Service, risking imprisonment or exile overseas, the two were torn apart. It wasn't until years later that the author discovered that the father with whom he had fought so bitterly had later in his life transformed himself into a political hero. Risking everything one dark and rainy night Ian McRae travelled secretly into the black township of Soweto to meet members of Nelson Mandela's then banned African National Congress to discuss ways to bring power to black South Africa. He had no political ambitions; he was just a man trying to replace the worst in himself with something better. Under Our Skinis a memoir of these tumultuous years in South Africa's history, as told through the author's family story. It offers an intimate and penetrating perspective on life under apartheid, and tells a story of courage and fear, hope and desolation and love and pain, especially between a father and his son.
Download or read book Myopia written by Malcolm Gibson and published by Woodpecker Lane Press. This book was released on 2015-11 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malcolm Gibson grew up as a privileged white Anglo South African kid not questioning the basis on which his advantaged position was founded - like most South African whites, who could not or would not see the inequities of their favoured position, nor the growing threat to it. This myopia mirrored Malcolm's nearsightedness caused by congenital cataracts in his early years. While these issues form the backbone of this story, it is also an account, often a very funny one, of a boy growing into manhood in a beautiful country. Trying to compensate for his early inadequacies and poor self-image, young Malcolm created a Walter Mitty-like world of fantasy, followed by a phase as rebel which did little more than irritate those close to him. Later he anaesthetized his growing feelings of guilt and unease about the political situation through a lifestyle embracing alcohol, partying and a series of passionate affairs with beautiful young women - a lifestyle that more than once came close to disaster. As he matured, his concerns about life in South Africa grew; though white, he identified with the aspirations of blacks. Where would he stand in the inevitable racial clash he saw looming? This dilemma grew into an obsession he believed could only be resolved by escaping from it.
Download or read book Shirley Goodness and Mercy written by Chris van Wyk and published by Pan Macmillan South africa. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shirley, Goodness & Mercy is a heart-warming, yet compellingly honest story about a young boy growing up in Newclare, Coronationville and Riverlea during the apartheid era. Despite Van Wyk’s later becoming involved in the ‘struggle’, this is not a book about racial politics. Instead, it is a delightful account of one boy’s special relationship with the relatives, friends and neighbours who made up his community, and of the important coping role laughter and humour played during the years he spent in bleak and dusty townships. In Shirley, Goodness & Mercy Chris van Wyk – poet, novelist and short story writer – had created a truly remarkable work, at once both thought-provoking and vastly entertaining.
Download or read book Inside Apartheid written by Janet Levine and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Inside Apartheid, South African-born Janet Levine recounts the horrors and struggles she faced against the minority white government’s brutal system of repression from a rare perspective—that of a white woman who worked within the system even as she fought to transform it. With candor and courage, Levine skillfully interweaves her personal story of a privileged white citizen’s growing awareness of the evils of apartheid with a moving account of the increasing violence in and radical polarization of South Africa. Inside Apartheid brings to life both the unsurpassed physical beauty and the institutionalized brutality of the country Levine loves so deeply. We accompany her on a daring trip to the devastated black township of Soweto immediately following the unrest in 1976. There she visits the home of a “colored” family with no way out of apartheid induced poverty. On a journey through the “black” homelands where Levine discovers firsthand the horrifying evidence of the long-term genocide of three million people. As a student activist, as a journalist, and as an elected member of the Johannesburg City Council, Levine openly attacked the government’s policies in hundreds of speeches and articles, led election campaigns for one of her mentors, member of Parliament Helen Suzman, and was associated with Steve Biko and other less internationally famous but equally important South African figures. Levine was a founding member of the first black taxi co-operative in South Africa, and instrumental in having hundreds of illegally fired black workers reinstated with back pay after the Johannesburg strikes of 1980. We feel Levine’s pain when she finally asks soul-searching questions about the effectiveness of being a white activist. Inside Apartheid, with such honest witness-bearing, may be her most important act of all.
Download or read book Kaffir Boy written by Mark Mathabane and published by Plume. This book was released on 1987 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written with courage and conviction, Mark Mathbane's reveals the extraordinary memoir of growing up in a world under apartheid. B & W photo insert. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
