The South African National Day of Protest, 1950

THE SOUTH
AFRICAN
NATIONAL DAY
OF PROTEST,
1950
Name of the student:
Name of the University:

INTRODUCTION
The South African National Day of Protest (1950) is a
historical event where an emergency meeting of the
National Executive of the African National Congress
(ANC) was held on 21st May, 1950. The main purpose
of the presentation is:
 To provide historical context about the South African
National Day of Protest and examine the event from
various perspective.
 To provide an overview of person who are directly or
indirectly affected by the event and the presence of
several barriers during the event.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF
THE TOPIC:
The implementation of many Racist law was the main trigger for the
event and the series of events that occurred were as follows:
 1948: Implementation of Racist law after the National Party-led
government came to power
 1st May, 1950: The Government published the Unlawful
Organizations Bills also known as the Suppression of Communism Act
 12th May 1950: The Immorality Amendment Act No 21 1950 is
passed which prohibited adultery between the black and the white
people
 14th May 1950: The ANC calls an emergency conference to discuss
about the Unlawful Organizations Bill.
 15th May 1950: Protest against the Unlawful Organization Bill
occurred at the Cape Town City Hall
 21st May 1950: The ANC calls a national one day stay at home
protest on 26th June 1950 against the Unlawful Organizations Bill.
Everyone was asked to stay away from work as sign of protest on 26th
June.
 26 June 1950: The African National Day of Protest is held
(sahistory.org.za.,2017).

ANALYSIS OF THE EVENT FROM
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
Role of the Government:
 The African party led
government played a major
role in the implementation of
discriminatory laws and they
were the main trigger for the
African National Day of Protest
event.
 The election of the Nationalist
Party in 1948 marked the
initiation of apartheid policies
and Act
 The Nationalist Party blocked
all means of protest by non-
whites
 This led to the imprisonment of
major leaders of the ANC and
the Pan African Congress (PAC)
(Maylam, 2017).