Resource Library
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We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Mandela's Strategic Decision
Examine Nelson Mandela’s emotional rejection of a 1985 offer by the South African government to free him if he renounced violence and abstained from politics.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)
Posters from the Freedom Struggle in the 1980s
Look at a selection of anti-apartheid posters that show the diverse range of messages and issues covered within the movement.
![The Durban strikes of 1973, and the subsequent formation of new trade unions, were instrumental in causing the first seams of apartheid to break apart.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1973_DurbanStrikes_FH282023.jpg?h=ae1281eb&itok=_wD8vdVT)
Selling Progress: A South African Filmstrip for American Students
Read the transcript of a video the South African government sent to American students as a way to convince the international community of the benefits of apartheid.
![Group of people waving South African flags in back lit.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2018_SouthAfricaConfrontingApartheidBannerunedited_FH282249.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=gii2H08Z)
Afrikaner Identity
Examine the tension between two white European groups in South Africa, the Afrikaners (formerly Boers) and the English, in Afrikaner politician Francis Reitz’s A Century of Wrong.
![The Boers, semi-nomadic farmers of Dutch descent, often lived in impoverished conditions due to social isolation and their views on racial superiority.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Boer_Family_1886.jpg?h=412eaa8a&itok=9uWPTy6b)
Indian Identities: Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas K. Gandhi recalls his early participation in nonviolent resistance against discrimination against Indians in South Africa.
!["In April 1893, Gandhi left India and set sail for South Africa to practice law, spending the next 21 years there. His experiences during this time helped him develop his political and ethical views. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_18950101_MahatmaGandhiinSouthAfrica1895_%20FH281151.jpg?h=2fd98f0b&itok=X0C57sNe)
Mines in South Africa
Explore the responses by leaders of the African National Congress to the new Union of South Africa government’s racially motivated Native Lands Act of 1913.
![In 1887 and 1888, Cecil Rhodes consolidated a number of individual diamond mine claims around Kimberley to form a single company called De Beers Consolidated Mines.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_18850101_DeBeersDiamondMineca1885_%20FH281147.jpg?h=94780249&itok=8PQyBwsl)
My Name
Consider the importance of African naming practices in South African poet Magoleng wa Selepe’s poem about the effects of colonialism on African identity.
![This Tswana-Venda wedding demonstrates the continued importance of traditional culture in contemporary South African society.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2018_TswanaandVendaWedding_%20FH281155.jpg?h=4c3b389f&itok=V-EjaKiW)
Apartheid Policies
Read the National Party’s 1948 statement in support of apartheid, which justifies separation as a way to preserve the white European race.
![The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (passed in 1953) led to signs such as the one shown above. The Act prohibited people of different races from using the same public amenities.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Apartheid_Era_Sign.jpg?h=77e8015d&itok=b86oNSyE)
Experiencing Apartheid
Writer Mtutuzeli Matshoba provides a vivid account of life under apartheid through the story of his friend who was forcibly ejected from his home.
![A child walks to school through the barren village of Qunu, South Africa, located just outside of the town of Mthatha.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2013_GirlWalkingtoSchoolMthatha_FH281816.jpg?h=a5f2f23a&itok=lR43Ngto)
The Freedom Charter
Examine the 1955 Freedom Charter, established by the ANC and supporting groups, which calls for all races to enjoy equal rights, protections, and benefits under the law.
![A group of resisters proudly pose after their release from prison in Durban during the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws, 1952.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1952_TheDefianceCampaign_FH281822.jpg?h=56feb499&itok=2LnEBZM4)
Mandela on Trial
Nelson Mandela describes the ANC and PAC’s shift from non-violent resistance of apartheid to violent sabotage under the militant faction MK in his testimony during the Rivonia Trial.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)