Photographs showing official notices used in entrances for public buildings and photograph of man in a post office entitled ‘Apartheid at the Post Office Johannesburg’ from a booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837
Hawker: a person who travels about selling goods.
Transcript
Non-European & Tradesmen’s entrance
Through Garage
No Hawkers Allowed
This lift is for Europeans only
Service lift is provided for tradesmen, Non-Europeans, Prams & Dogs
No Hawkers Allowed
- These signs were displayed before the Separate Amenities Act 1953, (see date of source). What does this reveal about segregation in the South African Union at that time?
- What is the purpose of these notices?
- In what type of building do you think they would be displayed?
- Why do you think there is also reference to ‘Hawkers’, ‘Prams & Dogs’ as well as ‘non-Europeans’?
- What can we learn from the photograph entitled ‘Apartheid at the Post Office Johannesburg’?
- Why do you think these photographs come from a booklet produced by Foreign Relations Society of India?
- What is the value of photographs over written reports to historians?
- What other sources could be used to research the significance of the Amenities Act, apart from Sources 4a-d?