Resources
for Teaching About Africa. The following document includes 4
different lists.
1. Teaching-Related Web Sites
2. Video Cassettes (South Africa)
3. Youth Literature (South Africa)
4.
Children’s
Literature (South Africa)
_____________________________________________________________________________
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/asp.html (African Studies Organizations and Programs
throughout the USA and elsewhere)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/
(Designated as the official site for "African Studies" in the World
Wide Web Virtual Library (WWW-VL)
http://docker.library.uwa.edu.au/~plimb/az.html (African newspapers, associations,
universities, and other web-based resources related to an individual region or
countries inside Africa)
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~afrteach(Recent
reviews of K-12 materials, links to Africa-related homepages, includes a forum
for those involved in teaching about Africa, and has plans for a 'Best Lessons'
website)
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/
(Smithsonian's site describing the history and various themes of Africa, a
comprehensive bibliography, a feature about women, and more)
http://www.afrorhythms.com – or call 1 888-838-4426
(background information on the cultures that use certain instruments; a search
engine is also available to find geographically specific musical instruments)
http://www.bu.edu/AFR/Outreach – or call 677-353-7303/3673 (The outreach library
offers curriculum guides, multimedia resources, handouts, maps, and posters)
http://www.southerncenter.org (Extensive lesson plans and background
essays relating to Africa for middle and high school teachers. Videotape “Africa in Transition” and
instructional guide available.) – Temporarily out of service.
http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/aern/INDEX.HTML (Good
source for general information on Africa--reports and papers about networking
in the region, connectivity and topology maps, and other relevant links)
http://filemaker.mcps.k12.md.us/aad/ (Africa Access Review--Annotations and
critiques of over 800 youth materials on Africa written by librarians,
university professors, and teachers, most of whom have lived in Africa and have
graduate degrees in African Studies. This online journal aids educators in
building quality, authoritative collections on Africa.
2.
VIDEO CASSETTES
(South Africa)
A
Chip of Glass Ruby. (Gr. 9-12)
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1988. 20 min.
$149.
Clips from the film version of Gordimer’s story of a Muslim Indian
family in South Africa in the 1950s are interwoven with comments by the author
on her craft and on the political unrest in her country.
Maids
and Madams. (Gr. 10-12)
Filmakers Library.
1985. 52 min. $195.
From comfortable white homes where black domestics work to the
overcrowded dwellings where they live, the effects of apartheid are revealed
through the eyes of the servants and the words of the women they serve.
Senzeni
Na? (Gr. 11-12)
Pyramid. 1990. 30 min.
$325.
A case of mistaken identity catapults a meek black worker into
prison and leads to a decisive moment of truth in this taut drama that
chillingly shows the casual, yet calculated, brutality visited upon political
activists in South Africa.
Six
Feet of the Country. (Gr. 10-12)
Coronet . 1977; released
1980. 29 min. $250.
A black hired man’s attempt to retrieve his brother’s body for
burial underscores the harsh inhumanity of apartheid in this moving adaptation
of Nadine Gordimer’s short story.
A
Long Night’s Journey Into Day (Gr.
9-12)
California Newsreel.
1998. 30 min. $40
A segment of the 4-part video features an interview with Peter and
Linda Biehl, the parents of Amy Biehl, the young U.S. freedom fighter who was
killed near Cape Town.
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. YOUTH LITERATURE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA (AND SOUTHERN AFRICA)
(Fiction
and Non-Fiction)
Fiction
Abrahams,
Peter. (1948). Mine Boy. Heinemann
Educational Books. (Gr. 7-12)
Young Xuma comes from the country to the
slums of Johannesburg, where he finds work in the gold mines and manhood in
resistance, and where the girl he loves is destroyed by self-hatred. Abrahams’ powerful autobiography, Tell
Freedom (1954), includes a joyful chapter about his discovery of black American
writers like Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen and how much that helped him as
a struggling ‘coloured’ (mixed race) writer.
Beake,
Lesley. (1993). The Song of Be. Holt. (Gr.
6-12)
Be is a Ju/Hoan girl of eastern
Bushmanland in Namibia, and, like all the people in this short, beautiful
novel, she is caught between two changing worlds.
Brink,
Andre. (1980). A Dry White Season.
Penguin. (Gr. 9-12)
A liberal Afrikaans novelist writes of a
white teacher who thinks that apartheid hasn’t much to do with him until the
experience of a black family in the Soweto riots draws him into confrontation
with the regime and with his own family.
This was made into a fine feature film.
Case,
Dianne. (1995). 92 Queens Road. Farrar.
(Gr. 6-10)
Drawing on her personal experience, Case
tells a story of vitality and sorrow about a ‘Coloured’ (mixed race) child in
Cape Town in the 1960s.
Dangarembga,
Tsitsi. (1989). Nervous Conditions. Seal
Press. (Gr. 9-12)
A frank, compelling novel of a young
woman growing up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the 1960s and 1970s,
trying to escape poverty, sexism, and repressive authority in her family and in
the racist society.
Gordimer,
Nadine. (1990). My Son’s
Story. Orchard//Bantam. (Gr. 10-12)
A searing story told from the point of
view of a “Coloured” teenager who sees how apartheid experience brings out
love, betrayal, and courage in his family.`
Gordon,
Sheila. (1987). Waiting for the Rain. Orchard and Bantam Paper. (Gr. 7-12)
A novel about two boys who grow up on a
South African farm. White Frikkie,
nephew of the farm owner, joins the army.
Black Tengo, son of the farm foreman, goes to the city, desperate to get
an education, and he’s drawn into the struggle against the white government.
Lessing,
Doris. (1992). African Laughter.
HarperCollins. (Gr. 8-12)
Lessing grew up in Rhodesia, now
Zimbabwe, but was exiled from her home for 25 years by the white racist
regime. In this memoir, she describes
four journeys back to Zimbabwe since independence in 1982. Despite the country’s huge problems, she
finds enormous optimism, growth, and commitment in a multiracial society that
seems to be working. Also by Lessing is
African Stories, her magnificent
collection of short fiction.
Maartens,
Marita. (1991). Paperbird. Clarion. (Gr.
5-9)
Translated from the Afrikaans version,
this is a moving story of 12-year-old Adam growing up in poverty in a black
township, threatened by violence from the police and from the local thugs. His younger sisters and pregnant mother rely
on him for support. On a dangerous
journey to earn money in the city, he finds companionship and courage.
Naidoo,
Beverley. (1990). Chain of Fire.
HarperCollins. (Gr. 6-10)
Through the experiences of 15 year-old
Naledi, this novel by South African exile Naidoo dramatizes the apartheid
atrocity that made blacks foreigners in their own country: the forced removal
of more than three million blacks to barren, overcrowded “homelands” many of
them had never seen.
Naidoo,
Beverley. (1997). No Turning Back. HarperCollins.
(Gr. 5-9)
On the eve of South Africa’s first
democratic elections, a contemporary child is striving to survive on the cold,
dangerous city streets.
Rochman, Hazel.
(Ed.). (1988). Somehow
Tenderness Survives: Stories of Southern Africa. HarperCollins. (Gr. 7-12)
Ten adult stories and autobiographical
accounts by southern African writers, including Nadine Gordimer. Mark Mathabane, and Doris Lessing, vividly evoke
what it means to come of age under apartheid.
The title is from a poem by Deniis Brutus that begins “Somehow we
survive/ and tenderness, frustrated, does not wither.”
Sacks,
Margaret. (1989). Beyond Safe Boundaries. Dutton/Lodestar and Penguin/Puffin paper.
(Gr. 6-12)
Growing up in a Jewish liberal home in
South Africa, teenage Elizabeth disapproves of apartheid, but she thinks it
doesn’t have much to do with her—until prison and murder invade the intimacy of
her family. A powerful novel that raises
troubling moral questions, this is one of the bet stories about the white
liberal experience.
Silver,
Norman. Silver’s teenage protagonists
all share a common experience — a slow, painful realization; their rite of
passage is one that allows them to view the ironies and iniquities of adult
South African society with increasing clarity and abhorrence. Among books by
Silver are three listed below. (Gr. 9-12)
1) No Tigers in Africa.
(1991). Puffin. Selwyn’s restoration after a mental
breakdown.
Selwyn Lewis, a white teenager newly
arrived in England from Johannesburg, denies his racism. But he’s haunted by guilt that he caused the
death of a black teenager. He didn’t
pull the trigger, but he feels it was his fault. This novel is uneven, but what will haunt readers is the
universal moral issue, the connections made between this ordinary family and
those ordinary people who went along with slavery and with the Holocaust. In a mad world that seems normal, Selwyn
comes to realize that the system is to blame.
And so is he.
2) An Eye for Colour.
(1992). Dutton. Basil’s entry into or avoidance of national
service
2. Python Dance. (1993). Ruth’s decision to study speech therapy at
Witwatersrand University.
Slovo,
Gillian. (1990). Ties of Blood. Morrow. (Gr. 9-12)
This very long, dramatic, fast-paced
docu-novel about two anti-apartheid families——one black, one white——blends
fiction, current history, and autobiography with a strong focus on the conflict
and idealism of individual young people over four generations. The best part is about the schoolchildren’s
uprising in Soweto. Slovo’s mother,
Ruth First, was killed by a letter bomb.
Another daughter, Shawn Slovo, made the exquisite film, A World Apart, about her childhood
conflict with a mother who was fighting for a righteous cause but was unable to
be there for her own children.
William,
Michael. (1992). Crocodile Burning.
Dutton/Lodestar. (Gr. 7-12)
For Sowetan teenager Seraki Nzule,
getting a role in a township musical is a chance to escape from the shambles of
school, the poverty, the thugs, the weakness of his parents; and he can block
out his fear for his older brother, detained in jail for months without trial.
Then the musical moves to Broadway and Seraki finds himself in New York. The first-person narrative conveys the
vitality as well as the sorrow of the dusty township streets. Also, the Sowetans’ homesickness and their
disappointment in America produce a compelling reversal.
See Nonfiction below.
Nonfiction
Africa Fund.
(1980). Women Under Apartheid. (Gr.
7-12)
These 100 heartbreaking photographs,
combined with informative text, depict the lives of black women, focusing on
the migrant labor system and resettlement laws and their devastation of home
and family life. The book is derived
from a UN exhibition prepared by the International Defense and Aid Fund for
Southern Africa. A set of
black-and-white photographs is available for exhibition. Children
Under Apartheid is a companion volume.
Benson,
Mary. (1986). Nelson Mandela: The Man and
His Movement. Norton. Gr. 9-12)
This is not only a fine political
biography of the great South African leader, but also a history of black
struggle in his country and of the long outlawed (now unbanned) resistance
movement, the African National Congress.
Beyond the Barricades: Popular Resistance in South
Africa. (1989).
Aperture. (Gr. 7-12)
Documentary photographs by 20 leading
South African photographers take the reader to the barricades and reveal
widespread protest and suffering, including the detention and torture of
children. With background notes and
personal accounts, and with a foreword by the Reverend Frank Chikane.
Biko,
Steve. (1979). I Write What I Like.
HarperSan Francisco. (Gr. 8-12)
Articles by the young leader of the
Black Consciousness Movement, who was murdered in 1977 while under
interrogation in prison, demonstrate clearly why the white power structure
feared him enough to kill him.
Bradley,
Catherine. (1995). End of Apartheid. Raintree/Steck-Vaughan. (Gr. 7-12)
Bradley’s clear history ends with the
triumph of multiracial democracy and a discussion of the problems facing a
country having to undo centuries of oppression.
du Boulay,
Shirley. (1988). Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless. Eerdmans. (Gr. 6-12)
This moving biography of the defiant,
outspoken archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize winner integrates
Desmond Tutu’s personal story and his liberation theology with a strong sense
of what it was like to live under apartheid.
Bunn, David
and Taylor, Janet (1988). From South Africa: New Writing, Photographs,
and Art. University of
Chicago. (Gr. 8-12)
Written by those fighting at the
barricades, this collection of poems, speeches, articles, stories, novel
excerpts, and graphics expresses a people’s sorrow and protest as well as a
vision of nonracial liberation. The
editors’ introduction points out how far this post-Soweto culture is from the
mysterious, primitive stereotypes in Out
of Africa.
Cochrane,
James, De Gruchy, John, and Martin, Stephen (Eds.) (1999). Facing
the Truth: South African Faith Communities and the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission. Ohio University
Press. (Gr. 11-12)
In this most candid of studies, we have
the historical notes that report the difficult process of South Africa’s faith
communities coming to terms with their role I the injustices of the recent
past. Includes extracts of verbatim
testimonies of faith communities to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Finnegan,
William (1986). Crossing the Line: A Year in the Land of Apartheid. HarperCollins. (Gr. 8-12)
Finnegan, a California surfer, went to
South Africa for personal adventure, but when he took a job in a “Coloured”
(mixed race) high school in the throes of boycott and violence, he learned what
apartheid was like for young people——the suffering and the commitment.
Fugard,
Athol. (1982). “Master
Harold . . .” and the Boys.
Penguin. (Gr. 7-12)
A famous play about a white South
African teenager (“the master”) who lashes out at two older black men (“the
boys”) who have long treated him as a younger brother: he takes out on them his
anger and frustration and reveals the inherited hatred that poisons their
world. An Afrikaner from the rural
Cape, Fugard says that he first woke up to the evil of apartheid when, as a
young boy, he spat in the face of a black man.
Gordimer,
Nadine and Goldblatt, David. (1986). Lifetimes Under Apartheid. Knopf.
(Gr. 7-12)
With both arms in casts above the elbow,
a teenager, released from detention, stares at the camera: opposite is a quote
from a Nadine Gordimer novel: “It’s about suffering . . . . It’s strange to live in a country where
there are still heroes.” Prose excerpts
from one of South Africa’s greatest writers accompany 60 searing photographs.
Gray,
Stephen. (Ed.) (1989). The Penguin Book of Southern African Verse. Penguin.
(Gr. 8-12)
Dennis Brutus, Mazisi Kunene, Mongane
Serote, and Jeremy Cronin are among the wide range of contemporary poets
collected here. There are translations,
classics, poetry from the oral tradition, and contemporary pieces.
Harrison,
David (1982). The White Tribe of Africa: South Africa in Perspective. Univ. of California Press. (Gr. 8-12)
Harrison’s sympathetic exploration of the
attitudes of Afrikaners makes use of many personal anecdotes and
photographs. The author describes their
travails of the past in the Great Trek and the Boer War, their rise to power,
and their efforts to consolidate that power and ensure the survival of their
culture.
Holland,
Heidi. (1990). The
Struggle: A History of the African National Congress. Braziller.
(Gr. 7-12)
This lively popular history of South
Africa’s leading protest movement integrates crucial events (at Sharpeville,
Rivonia, Soweto, etc.) and biographies (Mandela, Luthulli, Tambo, etc.) with a
historical account of the black struggle against apartheid. Author Holland finds hope in the ANC’s
unwavering commitment to nonracial democracy.
Hoobler,
Dorothy and Hoobler, Thomas. (1992). Mandela: The Man, the Struggle, the Triumph.
Watts.
(Gr. 6-12)
The Hooblers’ biography sets the great
leader’s personal story within the politics of his country. The authors discuss his early life, his
struggle, and his imprisonment, as well as the details of his release, Winnie
Mandela’s trial, and the tour of the United States. Contemporary problems of internal violence and the transition to
democratic rule are also addressed.
Hope,
Christopher. (1988). White Boy Running. Farrar.
(Gr. 9-12)
After 12 years in London, this talented
novelist returns home to observe the whites-only 1987 election; he weaves
together his family’s and his country’s history in an account that brings out
the absurdity as well as the terror of apartheid. Hope is also the author of A
Separate Development, a sardonic novel about Harry Moto, who finds himself
branded as “Coloured” and forced to live apart from his family.
James,
Wilmot and van de Vijver, Karol. (Eds.) (2001). After the TRC: Reflections
on Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. Ohio University Press.
(Gr. 11-12)
The testimonies that emerged during the
hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as important as they were,
nevertheless do not tell the whole story of this wrenching episode of South
Africa’s past. By necessity, the
Commission limited its work to a time period (from 1960 to 1994) and to “gross
violations” of human rights. The
narratives, then, are a part of a much larger picture——of apartheid, racial
history, colonial settlement, genocide, and war. The essays examine the effects
of the Commission’s work and the amnesty process within the larger context of
South African society and identify new directions for a nation that still
confronts enormous social and political challenge.
Lelyveld,
Joseph. (1985). Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White. (Times Books. (Gr. 8-12)
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this
in-depth personal profile by a New York
Times correspondent lets the white racists convict themselves through their
own words and actions. Lelyveld
emphasizes the gap between superficial concessions and legalized
brutality.
Magubane,
Peter. (1986). Soweto: The Fruit of Fear.
Eerdmans/Africa World Press.
(Gr. 7-12)
The 1976 Soweto uprising of schoolchildren
is dramatically documented by an acclaimed South African photo-journalist I
pictures of violent confrontation and sorrow.
The photos show street battles with heavily armed police and soldiers
facing teenagers using sticks, stones, and ash-can lids. Magubane is also the author/photographer of Black Child, winner of the Coretta Scott
King Award.
Makeba,
Miriam and Hall, James. (1988). Makeba: My Story. NAL/Plume.
(Gr. 8-12)
In a colloquial, present-tense
narrative, the popular South African singer, Miriam Makeba, tells her story
with warmth and candor, beginning with her childhood and coming-of-age under
apartheid. She goes on to describe her
international success after arriving in the U.S., her relations with the
famous, including Harry Belafonte; her marriage to the radical Stokely
Carmichael; and her unsuccessful attempt to make a home in Guinea. Makeba’s story rings with authenticity,
whether she’s describing her bewilderment as a UN delegate, the suffering of
her people and her bitter sense of exile from them, or her unashamed pride and
delight in her music.
Malan,
Rian. (1990). My Traitor’s Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country,
His Tribe, and His Conscience.
Atlantic Monthly Press. (Gr.
9-12)
Afrikaans journalist, Malan,
great-nephew of apartheid’s first prime minister, returns to his country after
years of living in the U.S. He
investigates a number of murders——in Soweto, in the police torture chambers, on
the farms, in the gold mines, in the “homelands”——and relates the tangled
stories of why people kill each other to politics, history, culture, myth, and
to his own quest for home.
Mallaby,
Sebastian. (1992). After Apartheid: The Future of South Africa. Times Books
(Gr. 9-12)
In accessible, journalistic style,
Mallaby conveys the excitement of a country where people are talking about such
basics as how to make a constitution and build an economy. He ridicules the crude rhetoric that a black
government in South Africa would mean communism and chaos, and he also argues
that the fear of a right-wing backlash is exaggerated.
Mandela,
Nelson (1994). Long Walk to Freedom:The
Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Little, Brown (Gr. 11-12)
Mandela’s book epitomizes the struggle
between the oppressor and the oppressed.
It captures all that Nelson Mandela stood for and is a legacy of
struggle, a source of inspiration for the freedom fighters to come. Much of the text was written secretly while
Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island during the apartheid
regime.
Mandela,
Nelson. (1996). Mandela: An Illustrated
Autobiography. Little, Brown. (Gr.
6-12)
With 200 photographs, this adult title
is an accessible and dramatic account of President Mandela’s life and the
history of the anti-apartheid struggle.
Mandela,
Nelson (1965). No Easy Walk to Freedom.
Heinemann. (Gr. 8-12)
A collection of Mandela’s speeches and
articles, this includes accounts of his court trials and writing from
his time underground, as well as his famous
speech to the court before he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mathabane,
Mark. (1986). Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of
Age in South Africa. NAL. (Gr. 8-12)
Kaffir means nigger in South Africa.
This searing autobiography, a best seller in the U.S., was banned in
South Africa until recently. Mathabane
tells of growing up in poverty and fear in the ghetto of Alexandra township
near Johannesburg and of the near miracle by which he came to college in the
U.S. on a tennis scholarship. In Love in Black and White, he and his
white American wife, Gail, talk about their marriage and the taboos that still
surround interracial relationships, even in the U.S.
Mattera,
Don. (1989). Sophiatown: Coming of Age
in South Africa. Beacon. (Gr. 9-12)
In a painful story, Mattera describes
his growing up in the vital, multiracial Johannesburg ghetto of Sophiatown in
the 1950s, his change from murderous gang leader to political activist, and his
anguish at watching the razing of his home and community by bulldozers of the
apartheid authorities.
Meer,
Fatime. (1990). Higher Than Hope: A Biography of Nelson Mandela. HarperCollins. (Gr. 8-12)
This authorized biography by a longtime
family friend and fellow activist describes the Mandelas’ personal lives (“I
felt I was more or less raised by the police,” says daughter Zindzi) and also
the history of the anti-apartheid struggle and the role of the ANC.
Mermelstein,
David (Ed.) (1987). The Anti-Apartheid Reader: South Africa and the
Struggle Against White Racist Rule.
Grove. (Gr. 7-12)
A large collection of newspaper
articles, speeches, interviews, book excerpts, and statistics provides a broad
introductory resource on the apartheid society and resistance to it. Included are famous texts, such as the
Freedom Charter, Mandela’s court statement, Tutu’s Nobel Peace Prize speech, as
well as summaries of the racist laws, detailed accounts of the various
uprisings, and discussions of issues like health, education, forced removals, and
the role of women. There’s also a
section on U.S. foreign policy.
Modisane,
Bloke. (1990). Blame Me on History. Simon
& Schuster. (Gr. 9-12)
Less graphic and more analytic than
Kaffir Boy, but just as candid, this autobiography is the cry of a brilliant,
vital man who grows up black in the slums of Johannesburg and tries to resist
the apartheid view of him as less than human.
Mphahlele,
Ezekiel. (1959). Down Second Avenue: Growing Up in a South African Ghetto. (Gr. 9-12)
The author, now a university professor,
describes his childhood and youth in the country and city slums, where his
education, his sense of community, and his pride in himself helped him to
survive vicious racism and his own bitterness.
Paton,
Jonathan. (1990). The Land and People of South Africa. HarperCollins. . (Gr.
6-12)
The son of the late Alan Paton, author
of the classic Cry, the Beloved Country
(1948), attacks white versions of history (that show courageous whites fighting
off hordes of fierce, heathen black warriors) and discusses his country as a
multicultural community in all its vitality and terrible conflict.
Peace, Judy
Boppell. (1986). The
Boy Child Is Dying: A South African Experience. HarperSan Francisco. (Gr.
6-12)
Written from the viewpoint of a liberal
Christian American who spent eight years in South Africa, these vignettes of
the dailiness of cruelty and suffering vitalize the statistics and
rationalizations and show the price both whites and blacks pay for living under
apartheid.
Reader’s
Digest. (1995). Illustrated History of
South Africa: The Real Story, 2nd ed. Random House. (Gr. 6-12)
Originally published in Cape Town, this
handsome, authoritative, large-size volume is an excellent in-depth reference
source of history from the point of view of all the peoples of South Africa.
Russell,
Diana. (1989). Lives of Courage: Women for
a New South Africa. Basic. (Gr. 8-12)
Interviews with 60 women who have been
actively involved in the anti-apartheid struggle give a direct account of their
experiences, which range from life in Soweto to forced removals to the
“homelands,” and from marriage across the color bar to civil disobedience.
Sachs,
Albie. (1990). Running
to Maputo. HarperCollins. (Gr. 9-12)
A terrorist bomb took his right arm and
blinded him in one eye, but South African lawyer-activist Sachs recovered to
continue his fight for a non-racist South Africa. With humor and spirit, he
describes his first year of recovery and his struggle to come through without
hatred or self-pity.
Sparks,
Allister. (1990). The
Mind of South Africa. Knopf. (Gr. 9-12)
Writing as personal witness, political
analyst, and historian, a leading Johannesburg liberal journalist looks at his country’s
history, past and present, focusing on daily life and how people see
themselves.
Thompson,
Leonard. (1990). A
History of South Africa. Yale. (Gr. 10-12)
Scholarly, authoritative, and highly
readable, this history of South Africa includes a lot about pre-colonial
societies and points out that indigenous southern Africans were not blank
stereotypes for white invaders to civilize or victimize.
Williamson,
Sue. (1990). Resistance Art in South
Africa. St. Martins Press. (Gr. 7-12)
From T-shirts and banners to
sophisticated paintings, drawings, and sculpture, this contemporary collection
blends politics and art.
Woods,
Donald. (1983). Biko. Holt. (Gr. 7-12)
White journalist Woods was a close
friend of Biko, the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement who was murdered
in prison. This biography (which
provided the background for the movie Cry
Freedom) is both a personal testimony to Biko and a fierce indictment of
the apartheid system.
Sources:
Rochman, H.
(1993). Against Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World. Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association.
Rochman, H.
(1997, June 1 & 15). Apart from
Apartheid. Booklist. 93,
1724.
Thomas, R.
(1996).
Connecting Cultures: A Guide to Multicultural Literature for Children. New Providence, N.J.: R.R. Bowker.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
4. CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE (Fiction)
Angelou,
Maya. (1994). My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me. Crown. (Gr. 3-4)
Thandi is a Ndebele girl in South
Africa. She describes her family and
their activities, including painting their houses, making beaded clothing,
going to the city, and keeping a pet chicken.
Case,
Dianne. (1994). 92 Queens Road.
Farrar. (Gr. 5-6)
In Cape Town, South Africa, in the
1960s, Kathy and her ‘coloured’ family endure the hardships of apartheid,
including watching homes destroyed when the government forces families to
relocate. Kathy also copes with her own
family’s problems.
Daly,
Niki. (1984). Not So Fast Songololo.
Macmillan. (Gr. K-2)
Malusi lives with his family near a big
city in South Africa. On a trip into
the city, Malusi helps his grandmother, and she buys him a new pair of shoes.
Gordon,
Sheila. (1990). The Middle of Somewhere: A Story of South Africa. Orchard.
(Gr. 5-6)
In South Africa, a new suburb for whites
is being planned and the black families in one village face relocation to a
distant area. Rebecca, nine, and her
family challenge the government’s decision.
As the story evolves, Nelson Mandela is released.
Haarhoff,
Dorian. (1992). Desert December.
Clarion. (Gr. K-2)
Set in the desert of Namibia, this
evokes a strong sense of the place, and it universalizes the Christmas story.
Isadora,
Rachel. (1991). At the Crossroads.
Greenwillow. (Gr. K-6)
For millions of black children, the
central horror of apartheid was the breakup of family life. The simple text with glowing double-page
spread watercolor paintings tells a story of joyful reunion that also reveals
its wrenching opposite——the pain of famlies separated by migrant labor.
(Booklist’s Top of the List Award as the best picture book of 1991.)
Isadora, Rachel.
(1992). Over the Green Hills.
Greenwillow. (Gr. K-2)
Zolani lives in a village by the sea on
the east coast of South Africa. He and
his mother travel inland to visit Zolani’s grandmother. Included are details about the Transkei
homeland of South Africa.
Lewin,
Hugh. (1994). Jafta: The Homecoming. Kopf. (Gr. K-2)
Told from the point of view of a small
child, Jafta, this is a simple, moving story of what a father’s return means to
a family separated by apartheid. Lewin
is also the author or the following books.
(1981). Jafta. Carolrhoda
(1981). Jafta
and the Wedding. Carolrhoda.
(1981). Jafta’s Father.
Carolrhoda.
(1983). Jafta––Journey,
The. Carolrhoda
. (1981). Jafta’s
Mother. Carolrhoda.
(1983). Jafta––Town,
The. Carolrhoda.
Maartens, Maretha.
(1991).
Paper Bird: A Novel of South Africa. Houghton. (Gr. 5-6)
In his village, Adam and his family face
violence from policemen riding in Casspirs.
On the road to the city, there are marauders who attack travelers. Adam must face this violence and his own
fear to
provide for his family.
Mennen,
Ingrid & Daly, Niki. (1992). Somewhere in Africa. Dutton
(Gr. K-4)
In a delightful overthrow of
stereotypes, Mennen and Daly’s story of a Malay boy in Cape Town shows him
reading about wild, untamed Africa—in a book borrowed from the big-city
library.
Naidoo,
Beverley. (1990). Chain
of Fire. HarperCollins. (Gr. 5-6)
Naledi, 15, and her family are removed
from their homes and exiled to “homelands” in South Africa. Naledi becomes involved in the political and
social unrest in South Africa.
Naidoo,
Beverley. (1986). Journey to Jo’burg: A South African Story. HarperCollins.
Naledi, 13, and Tiro, 9, travel to
Johannesburg to bring their mother back to their village. When all three return, they take the baby, Dineo,
to the hospital. Throughout these
events, the children experience prejudice and inequity.
Sacks,
Margaret. (1992). Themba. Dutton. (Gr. 4-5)
Themba’s father has been working in the
gold mines. After three years there, he
is coming home. When his father does
not arrive, Themba goes to look for him.
Schermbrucker,
Reviva. (1991). Charlie’s House.
Viking. (Gr. K-3)
From the mud and flotsam around him in a
crowded township near Cape Town, Charlie Mogotsi builds his own world with
ingenuity and make-believe. Daly’s
bright dancing watercolors make us feel for Charlie’s poverty, while we sense
the loving family bonds in his home and also the laughter and anger bursting
out of the rows of house around him.
Seed,
Jenny. (1989). Ntombi’s Song.
Beacon. (Gr.
Pre-school/Kindergarten)
Ntombi, a young Zulu girl, spills the
sugar she is carrying home. She must
find a way to buy more sugar. She picks
plums, but no one buys them. When she
sings and dances, tourists give her money.
Seeger,
Pete. (1986). Abiyoyo: Based on a South African Lullaby and Folk Song. Macmillan.
(Gr. 4-5)
A boy and his father are outcasts until
they find the way to trick Abiyoyo, the giant.
Sisulu,
Elinor Batezar. (1996). The Day Gogo Went to Vote. Little, Brown (Gr. K-3)
Thembi, a child in Soweto, tells the
story of the amazing day in April 1994 when South Africa held its first
democratic elections. The story and
strong pastel pictures personalize those unforgettable news pictures of people
in long lines waiting for hours to vote for the first time in their lives.
Stewart,
Dianne., (1993). The Dove. Greenwillow. (Gr. K-2)
After their land is flooded, Lindi and
her grandmother worry about planting crops and having enough money. A dove comes to their home and they feed
it. Lindi then makes a beaded dove,
which they find they can sell.
Stock,
Catherine. (1990). Armien’s
Fishing Trip. Morrow. (Gr. K-2)
Armien is visiting his aunt and uncle in
Kalk Bay, on the southern tip of Africa.
Armien stows away on his uncle’s fishing boat. He comes out of his hiding place to help a fisherman who is swept
overboard — to prove that he is not a little boy any more. Quietly muted watercolor paintings fashion
busy scenes both at dockside and at sea.
Source: Thomas,
R.L. (1996). Connecting cultures: A
guide to multicultural literature for children. New Providence, N.J.: R.R. Bowker.