The Black Sash
Video Interviews
"The goal of that was to make the cabinet ministers feel uncomfortable and feel watched... They really got quite nervous about it." Video interview segment with Betty Davenport [1:04]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"Black people came into our world, but we never knew what their world was like unless we made an effort ..." Video interview segment with Jenny de Tolly [1:26]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"The ANC Athlone Branch asked five of us women of the ANC each day to go and interpret for the Black Sash in the Advice Office..." Video interview segment with Lettie Malindi [3:57]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"Helen Suzman was the one person in Parliament ... She put her energies into asking embarrassing questions of the government which they were then obliged to answer ..." Video interview segment with Mary Burton [1:35]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"In Cape Town, the world seemed to be divided into the people who were your friends ... and the people who were not... You very soon lost a group of friends ..." Video interview segment with Betty Davenport and Mary Burton [3:00]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"Men [had] to think 'Well, if do this I might lose my job and the family will starve,' and they weren't as free as we were ..." Video interview segment with Ruth Noel Robb, Barbara Versfeld, Lettie Malindi [1:33]
May 23, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.
"We in the UDF feel humbled and are proud to be associated with an organization like that ..." [1:03]
January 22, 1984
Images
Summary
The Black Sash (originally called the Women's Defence of the Constitution League) was founded in 1955 as an organization of white women to promote respect for the constitution and protest the loss of voting rights for Coloureds. Members would stand silently in public places wearing a black sash as a symbol of mourning for the government’s disregard for the constitution. The Black Sash established Advice Offices in urban centers to assist Africans with many issues, particularly the pass laws. Black Sash members also became involved in protesting forced removals, monitoring pass courts, and being a presence at political funerals in the 1980s. In post-apartheid South Africa, the Black Sash continues to provide free paralegal advice and also conducts monitoring, research, educational programs, and campaigns about human rights issues.Web Documents
Magazine Article: "The Story of the Women's Defence of the Constitution League", The Black Sash
1956
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1956
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Magazine Article: "Sashers in Action: A Day at Langa and Nyanga", The Black Sash
1959
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1959
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