SAhistory.org.za build SA Indian community feature
South African History Online (SAHO) has launched a year-long project to build a feature on the history of the South African Indian community. This is to celebrate the 150th anniversary this year of the arrival of the Indian indentured workers and the birth of the SA Indian community in SA.
This project forms part of a larger one on the people of SA and the history of the freedom struggle, in which ethnically based organisations such as the Natal Indian Congress and Transvaal Indian Congress played such a prominent role.
"We have undertaken to build a comprehensive social and political history of the people of South Africa," says Omar Badsha, SAHO. "We want to explore the rich diversity of people, traditions and cultures that also addresses the often controversial question: 'Who are South Africans?'
Feature includes
The online feature includes:
- a timeline that begins in 1654 when the first slaves from India and South East Asia were brought to the Cape in large numbers
- biographies of prominent Indian South Africans who were involved in a variety of fields such as labour and politics, visual arts, science and medicine as well as writers and academics
- an archive of interesting books and papers, and
- a gallery of fascinating historical photos
According to Badsha, "the feature is not only about telling the stories of prominent South Africans. It is also about capturing the extraordinary stories of ordinary South Africans. Our appeal is to all South Africans to contribute their stories to make the SA history website a truly South African history and heritage site."
Established in June 2000 as a non-profit organisation, SAHO (www.sahistory.org.za aims to address the biased way in which SA history and cultural heritage has been represented in our educational and cultural institutions. SAHO engages heritage practitioners, academics, institutions and ordinary South Africans in rewriting history and is committed to contributing to reconciliation, the building of a common humanity and a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society.
View the feature: From bondage to freedom - celebrating 150 years
