Darkest Before Dawn - Derek Hook, Leswin Laubscher, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe

Darkest Before Dawn

Writings, Testimonies and Correspondence from the Life of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe
Buch | Softcover
456 Seiten
2024
Wits University Press (Verlag)
978-1-77614-856-1 (ISBN)
39,90 inkl. MwSt
A definitive collection of Robert Sobukwe’s political writings, speeches, unpublished court testimonies, and interviews, complete with a biographical narrative by the editors that demonstrates the many challenges Sobukwe faced and his continued political resolve in the post-prison years of his life.
There are several accounts of Robert Sobukwe’s courageous role in contesting South Africa’s system of apartheid and of his incarceration on Robben Island after the Anti-Pass Campaign that led to the tragic events of Sharpeville in March 1960. Far less attention has been paid to the years the founder of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania spent in Kimberley, between 1969–1978, after his release from the Island. Darkest Before Dawn captures the story of the post-prison years of Sobukwe’s life and is the follow-up to Lie on Your Wounds: The Prison Correspondence of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. 


This latest compilation, complete with a biographical narrative by the editors and enriched with images from Sobukwe’s life during this period, demonstrates the many challenges he faced and his continued political resolve to fight for an end to apartheid. This is captured in the many meetings he had in spite of banning orders and letters he exchanged with friends and admirers, including the celebrated novelist Bessie Head whose letters to Sobukwe are published here for the first time. Sobukwe continued to meet political allies, such as Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, pursue a legal career and play host to international visitors. The portrait of Sobukwe that emerges is that of a highly ethical man, a figure of dignity and fortitude, and a wise elder whose commitment to the people of Africa and to the vision of Pan Africanism remained undeterred, despite being forced to live, under near impossible conditions in his final years. 


To do justice to Sobukwe’s legacy, his intellectual contribution and his unfailing desire to pursue liberation for African people, we need to view his biography against the backdrop of his words. Darkest Before Dawn includes a definitive collection of his political writings, speeches, unpublished court testimonies, interviews with activists Gail Gerhart and Joe Thloloe, and expansive annotations by the compilers. The book ends with a reflective essay which highlights the ongoing pertinence of Sobukwe's legacy.

Derek Hook is Professor of Psychology and a clinical supervisor at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh and Extraordinary Professor of Psychology at the University of Pretoria. He edited the first volume of Sobukwe letters, Lie on Your Wounds: The prison correspondence of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.   Leswin Laubscher is Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology department at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. He is Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He is the co-editor of Fanon, Phenomenology and Psychology.  Robert Sobukwe founded the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in 1959 and was its first president. He was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1960-1969, mostly in solitary confinement, and was considered such a threat by the government that its parliament enacted the ‘Sobukwe clause’, which authorised the arbitrary extension of his imprisonment. After his release in 1969, he lived in Kimberley with family under house arrest. He died in 1978 from lung cancer.

List of Illustrations


Preface: Hearing Sobukwe


Acknowledgements


Permissions


Part I: Introduction


‘The Sun Here Is Scorching’: Robert Sobukwe, Kimberley, 1969–1978


Part II: Sobukwe’s Speeches, Articles and Court Testimonies


Introduction


Chapter 1 Address on Behalf of the Graduating Class at Fort Hare College: ‘Completers’ Social’ Speech by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, 21 October 1949


Chapter 2 Forward to 1958! Editorial by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, The Africanist, December 1957


Chapter 3 The Nature of the Struggle Today: Article by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (attributed to Potlako Leballo), The Africanist, December 1957


Chapter 4 Future of the Africanist Movement: Questions and Answers by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, The Africanist, January 1959


Chapter 5 Manifesto of the Africanist Movement: Ratified at the PAC Inaugural Convention, Orlando, Johannesburg, 4–6 April 1959


Chapter 6 Opening Address: by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe to the PAC Inaugural Convention, Orlando, Johannesburg, 4–6 April 1959


Chapter 7 The State of the Nation: Speech by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe on ‘National Heroes’ Day’, 2 August 1959


Chapter 8 One Central Government in Africa: Draft Article by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, March 1960


Chapter 9 R. vs Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and Others, April 1960


Chapter 10 Robert Sobukwe’s Testimony in R. vs Monyake and Others, September 1960


Part III: Interviews


Chapter 11 ‘We Africanists’: Gail Gerhart Interviews Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, 1970


Chapter 12 ‘He Was the Intellectual, Completely’: Derek Hook Interviews Joe Thloloe, 2014


Part IV: Conclusion


The Afterlife of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe


Index

Erscheinungsdatum
Zusatzinfo 36 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort Johannesburg
Sprache englisch
Maße 156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt Literatur Briefe / Tagebücher
Literatur Essays / Feuilleton
Sozialwissenschaften Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10 1-77614-856-8 / 1776148568
ISBN-13 978-1-77614-856-1 / 9781776148561
Zustand Neuware
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