Digital materials added to the Julie Frederikse collection (AL2460)

September last year saw the SAHA launch of the 25^th commemorative online edition of Julie Frederikse’s book The Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa and of the online exhibition 'Tracing the Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa'. Originally published by Ravan Press in 1990, a new chapter by Frederikse entitled ‘Author’s Reflection: Southern African Mashups’ has been added to the latest edition and this chapter is illustrated with a selection of items from Frederikse's personal archive.

These items, together with a wealth of other materials from her personal archive were provided to SAHA on loan in the course of last year. The items were digitised, mainly for inclusion in the digital repository on non-racialism and while the original items were returned to the donor, the digitised items have now been processed as part of the Julie Frederikse collection (AL2460). Rich in oral history resources, the Julie Frederikse collection consists of audiotapes and transcripts of the interviews Frederikse conducted in the 1980s with struggle stalwarts such as Billy Nair, Dorothy Nyembe, Esther Barsel and Joe Slovo, as well as a new generation of leaders like Cheryl Carolus, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa amongst many others. While the audiotapes were digitised some time back, the interviews transcripts, due to their fragile condition, were digitised as part of SAHA’s non-racialism project. Many of the transcripts and the items recently added to collection are now accessible on the virtual exhibition.

The bulk of the recently processed digital items consist of research materials for her earlier books, None But Ourselves: Masses vs Media (1982), South Africa: A Different Kind of War (1986), and The Unbreakable Thread (1990). It further includes a selection of correspondence, book reviews and photographs, as well as a wonderful collection of ephemera such as her press passes and a large number of badges.

This year, SAHA will yet again mark Heritage Month with an event dedicated to Frederikse’s The Unbreakable Thread. The commemorative print edition will be launched at a panel discussion on non-racialism in Durban on 21 September.

See inventory for the Julie Frederikse collection (AL2460)

Visit the SAHA online exhibition 'Tracing the Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa

Visit 'The Unbreakable Thread' Publications page

Visit SAHA's Non-racialism Project page