May 6, 1958
Sophian reports on South African legislation banning African people from universities
In a front page article, the Sophian reported on the events of the South African Parliament, which introduced a bill that would ban all Africans from all South African universities, with the express purpose of limiting their involvement in society to that of laborers. This had an especially acute effect on the University of Witwatersand (Wits), which was the only medical school open to African students. In 1951 when the South African government withdrew th scholarships being given to African students, the Wits Students’ Representative Council held a special mass meeting to protest the decision. At this meeting students established the African Medical Scholarships Trust Fund (AMSTF). For a few years the fund was successful, but by 1958 it no longer had enough funds to support students. The Sophian article on the events in South Africa discussed Witwatersand, the government’s aspirations to across the board segregation, and the implications for their decisions on the African population, in terms of education and access to medical professionals.
South African Schools Restricted To Whites (1, 4)
[Last updated on October 28, 2018]