The Black Sash

Since its formation in 1955, the Black Sash has been a constant source of irritation to upholders of apartheid in South Africa. Founded on a sense of injustice - the outrage felt by a group of middle-aged, middle-class, liberal-minded, white, English-speaking women at the Senate Bill devised to prohibit black votes - its membership rapidly grew from six women at a tea party to a league of 10,000 who held marches, convoys, demonstrations and all-night vigils. In their struggle against violence, harassment and injustice, many members have lost relatives, been imprisoned or been the subjects of restriction orders (in some cases breaking these to talk to the author). The author has interviewed many members of the Black Sash as well as the Nationalist government and the security forces and such public figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She has spent time in their advice offices, visited black townships and the families of prisoners on Robben Island, and talked to black South Africans both sympathetic and unsympathetic to Black Sash activities.