The Black Sash was a non-violent white women's resistance organization founded in 1955 in South Africa by Jean Sinclair. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Black Sash initially campaigned against the removal of Coloured or mixed race voters from the voters' roll in the Cape Province by the National Party government. In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense The Cape of Good Hope Province (commonly referred to simply as the Cape Province) was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of The National Party ( Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) (with its members sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats) was the governing party of As the apartheid system began to reach into every aspect of South African life, Black Sash members demonstrated against the Pass Laws and the introduction of other apartheid legislation. Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and limit severely the movements of the non-white populace Its members "used the relative safety of their privileged racial classification to speak out against the erosion of human rights in the country. Their striking black sashes were worn as a mark of mourning and to protest against the succession of unjust laws. But they were not only on the streets. Volunteers spent many hours in the national network of advice offices and in the monitoring of courts and pass offices. " (Speech by Marcella Naidoo, National Director of the Black Sash, June 2005)

Between 1955 and 1994, the Black Sash provided widespread and visible proof of white resistance towards the apartheid system. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Its members worked as volunteer advocates to families affected by apartheid laws; held regular street demonstrations; spoke at political meetings; brought cases of injustice to the attention of their Members of Parliament, and kept vigils outside Parliament and government offices. Many members were vilified within their local white communities, and it was not unusual for women wearing the black sash to be physically attacked by supporters of apartheid.

The Black Sash movement's raison d'être came to an end in the early 1990s with the end of apartheid, the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela from imprisonment. The African National Congress (ANC has been South Africa 's governing party supported by its Tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (xolíɬaɬa mandéːla born 18 July 1918 is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative However, the organisation was reformed in 1995 as a non-racial women's humanitarian organisation. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995

See also

• Ruth Hayman
• Helen Zille
• Sandra Botha
• Mary Renault

References

• Black Sash web site
  
• Bernstein, H. Ruth Hayman (d 1981, London, England) was a lawyer and anti- Apartheid campaigner Helen Zille ( 9 March, 1951 - is the Mayor of Cape Town in South Africa 's Western Cape province and leader of the Democratic Celia-Sandra Botha is a South African politician who currently holds the position of Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly on behalf of the Democratic Alliance and Mary Renault (pronounced Ren-olt ( 4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983) born Mary Challans, was an English Writer , 1975. For their triumphs and for their tears - Women in Apartheid South Africa, International Defence & Aid Fund, London, United Kingdom.