From protest to challenge is a multi-volume chronicle of the struggle to achieve democracy and end racial discrimination in South Africa. Beginning in 1882 during the heyday of European imperialism, these volumes document the history of race conflict, protest, and political mobilisation by South Africa’s black majority. Completely revised and updated, with the inclusion of photographs and with the previous volumes re-formatted to unify the series, this second edition of From protest to challenge revives the classic work of Thomas Karis and Gwendolen Carter and provides an indispensable resource for students and scholars of African history, race and ethnicity, identity politics, democratic transitions and conflict resolution. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance and generosity of all those who helped to make this book possible. During two extended periods of pioneering field research by Gwendolen Carter, Thomas Karis, and Sheridan Johns in South Africa in 1963 and 1964 – a period of growing political tension – dozens of South Africans gave them documents or loaned them material to photocopy, often in the hope of preventing irreplaceable records from falling into the hands of the police. In addition, lawyers for the defendants in the 1956–61 treason trial contributed a complete set of the trial transcript and the preliminary examination, as well as a set of virtually all the documents assembled by the defence in preparation for the trial. Added to the materials that the team was able to photocopy from archival collections at several South African universities and at the South African institute of race relations, these months of fieldwork provided the initial foundation for what was to become the first four volumes of From protest to challenge.

From Protest to Challenge Volume 4: Political Profiles, 1882–1990, in Jacana’s second edition of the six volumes of From Protest to Challenge, profiles over six hundred individual activists who played important political roles during the century before the abolition of apartheid in 1990. Among those included are John Dube, Clements Kadalie, Albert Luthuli, Steve Biko, Beyers Naude and Joe Slovo, as well as Ellen Kuzwayo, Jay Naidoo, Robert McBride, P.K. Leballo and Patricia de Lille. These books are a wonderful resource for future generations of scholars. The publication of the Vol. 4 completes the series.

Volume 3 deals with the crucial period of the 1950s and the early 1960s. These were years of mass passive resistance to apartheid; years when the ANC was able to rally hundreds of thousands of supporters for its strategy of non-violent protest. This was the period when the increasingly brutal repressive measures of the state, culminating in the Sharpeville massacre and the banning of the ANC and PAC, finally turned the movement away from its proud tradition of non-violence into the difficult and protracted path of armed struggle.

This volume, the fifth in the From Protest to Challenge Series, examines and documents the liberation struggle in South Africa from its nadir in 1964 to its resurgence by 1979. Four earlier volumes traced the long history of resistence against white domination and the pursuit of racial equality during the period 1882-1964. This publication is a documentary history of the national liberation struggle in South Africa which includes a priceless collection of new primary historical sources. The 129 carefully selected documents (429 pp) covering the years 1964-1979 add historical depth and veracity to the finely honed, schlolarly text. Some are landmark speeches: Bram Fischer from the dock in 1966, Abram Tiro at Turfloop graduation in 1972, Chief Buthelezi at Jabulani Amphitheatre, Soweto, in March 1976. Some bear testimony to the fortitude of resisters, nameless and well known, who struggled against forced removals. 'Bantu education', and racism in the churches. Extensive footnotes and bibliography, chronology of events, indexes of organisations and persons.

"The essays are meticulous and carefully documented accounts which maintain the standard of excellence set by the previous volumes, all of which belong in every library." -Choice "Based on extensive documentary archives collected by these researchers, and augmented by interviews with virtually all of the significant antiapartheid activists, this volume covers a formative period in the struggle against white minority rule, 1964-1979." -Africa Today " . . . a substantial achievement . . . a wonderful resource for future generations of scholars." -South African Historical Journal "Karis and Gerhart's fifth volume is an invaluable addition to their earlier documentary history of the national liberation struggle in South Africa, and includes a priceless collection of new primary historical sources. It ignites vivid flashes of memory . . . " -from the Foreword by Nelson Mandela Volume 5 of this magnificent historical record continues the indispensable study of the struggle for freedom and justice in South Africa. In addition to extensive background essays, it includes formal documents, underground and ephemeral materials, and statements written in exile or in Robben Island prison that have not previously been published.

This collection of interviews explores the role of religion in the lives of eminent South Africans who led the struggle against apartheid. Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, and seventeen other political, religious, and cultural leaders share the beliefs and values that informed the moral positions they adopted, often at great cost. From all ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds, these men and women have shaped one of the greatest political transformations of the century.
What emerges from the interviews are reflections on all aspects of life in an embattled country. There are stories of the homelands and townships, and tales of imprisonment and exile. Dedicated communists relate their intense youthful devotion to Christianity; Muslim activists discuss the complexity of their relationships with their communities. As the respondents grapple with difficult questions about faith, politics, and authority, they expose a more personal picture: of their daily lives, of their pasts, and of the enormous conflicts that arise in a society that continually strains the moral fiber of its citizens. Taken together, these interviews reveal the many-faceted vision that has fueled South Africa's struggle for democracy.