These short documentary style films provide essential historical background for learners and educators engaging with South African history. Suitable for wide audience interested in learning more about the history of apartheid, we recommend they are primarily used to support the learning of students aged 11-18 (KS3 – KS5) and can be used across a range of curricular focuses.
As part of two AHRC-funded projects led by the University of Salford: ‘South African Modernism 1880-2020’ and ‘Decolonising English Studies in and Beyond the Classroom’, these three films explain the historical context and structures of apartheid in South Africa. The films were created in consultation with the Anti-Apartheid Legacy Centre and the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives.
Framing Apartheid History: Three Short Films
The following short films introduce key historical contexts:
1. History of Apartheid
This short video introduces apartheid (“apartness”), the brutal system of racial segregation and white minority rule that shaped South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century. From its legal foundations in 1948 to its eventual collapse in the 1990s, discover how apartheid impacted millions of lives – and how resistance, both local and global, paved the way for democracy.
Approx. duration: 4 minutes
Subtitles in English included
2. Resistance
The apartheid regime ended in the 1990s following decades of intense anti-apartheid resistance from inside and outside of South Africa. Archive footage in this documentary captures the efforts made by key figures, groups and events that helped to bring about a new democratic South Africa.
Approx. duration: 6 minutes
Subtitles in English included
3. Rule of Law
This short documentary video explains some of the key laws and legislations that were passed by the ruling South African National Party government in the second half of the twentieth century. These laws were designed to maintain white minority rule over other South Africans categorised as ‘Black’, ‘Coloured’ and ‘Indian’.
Approx. duration: 3 minutes
Subtitles in English included
Archival footage is credited at the end of each film and includes material available under Creative Commons. Every effort has been made to identify rights holders and obtain the necessary permissions for use in these educational resources.
South African Modernism 1880-2020
These videos form part of a wider platform developed by the University of Salford, which includes two distinct streams of work, part of the South African Modernism project. These include:
Literature Unbound:
Academic-led resources about South African literatures, histories and cultures aimed at 16-18 year old learners, including video lectures, podcasts, and classroom materials.
South African Modernism:
Information about the project work with schools and colleges. The wider resources can be accessed via the South African Modernism project.
Further information:
South African Modernism 1880-2020 is an AHRC-funded research project led by Prof Jade Munslow Ong (University of Salford, UK), with Co-Investigator Prof Andrew van der Vlies (University of Adelaide, Australia), Research and Innovation Associates Simon Stanton-Sharma (Salford) and Maire Tracey (Salford), and team members and project affiliates past and present Dr Hannah Helm (Salford), Dr Emma Barnes (Salford), Dr Keren Poliah (Salford) and Dr Sanja Nivesjö (Uppsala University, Sweden). The project examines South African literary modernism and its international connections from 1880 to 2020. Decolonising Literary Studies In and Beyond the Classroom is the AHRC Follow-on-Funding project that expands the impacts of the research to young learners in schools and Further Education.
