{"id":647,"date":"2022-04-27T10:11:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T09:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/?p=647"},"modified":"2022-04-28T09:59:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T08:59:00","slug":"freedom-day-new-perspectives-on-apartheid-from-the-blds-legacy-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/2022\/04\/27\/freedom-day-new-perspectives-on-apartheid-from-the-blds-legacy-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom Day – new perspectives on apartheid from the BLDS Legacy Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today marks the 28th<\/sup> anniversary of South Africa\u2019s first post-apartheid elections, now commemorated as Freedom Day. Previously, under the apartheid regime, non-whites in general had only limited voting rights, while black South Africans were unable to vote at all. The 1994 elections were the first non-racial national elections where everyone over the age of 18 from any race group was allowed to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working our way through the material from across the Global South held in the British Library for Development Studies (BLDS) Legacy Collection, it was noticeable that the issue of the apartheid regime would be addressed \u2013 in some way \u2013 in almost every country we encountered. As a consequence, we thought a blog post marking the anniversary of Freedom Day would be a great opportunity to draw attention to the multiple perspectives that the collection makes available to researchers and those interested in global reactions to events in the period from 1960-2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most substantial engagement with the issue of apartheid can be found, unsurprisingly, in the material collected from other countries in Africa. The images below, found in information bulletins from Guinea and Senegal, give a snapshot of the debates around apartheid going on in these countries \u2013 the cartoons are especially striking in getting their message across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fonike, BLDS Legacy Collection (Guinea, box 28)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n