Black South African Magazines
Black South African Magazines
More than 70,000 pages of extremely rare, historically significant magazines, written and targeted specifically for Black African audiences—digitized and online for the first time.
More than 70,000 pages of extremely rare, historically significant magazines, written and targeted specifically for Black African audiences—digitized and online for the first time.
Spanning four decades of turbulence and transformation, the writings in Black South African Magazines cover major events and prominent figures—including the Defiance Campaign, Winnie Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, and Steve Biko.
The resource supports studies in journalism, history, literature, political science, Black studies, gender studies, religion, anthropology, design, sociology, media, and sports.
The magazines were hugely popular, and were packed with investigative journalism, photography, fiction, reviews, biographies, fashion, lifestyle, advertisements, and more.
Many of them were syndicated across the continent and provide a view of Black society throughout all of Africa. They launched a new generation of Black journalists, writers, and artists—such as Peter Magubane, who photographed South Africa’s key events.
The magazines exist in just a few physical locations, and they’re at risk of disappearing—some are so fragile that they crumble to the touch.
Our Africa-based partner, Sabinet, has helped locate, source, and digitize the copies. Researchers will discover materials that have almost never been seen outside Africa.
The first magazines created by Black women for Black women. Women’s magazines, including The Townships Housewife and Grace, escaped the scrutiny of the apartheid government, continuing to report on life and events during times when other publications were shut down and their journalists jailed.
DRUM. DRUM was the first magazine written by Black Africans for Black readers and became the most widely read magazine in Africa. Its journalists influenced political outcomes and changed how Black Africans were represented in media.
Hi-Note! Hi-Note! was pictorial entertainment created in the mid-1950s mainly for multiracial and Indian readers, with a focus on sports, music, and star personalities. It offered romantic and suspense fiction and serialized classics.
decades of historically important magazines
Rarely seen since publication.
pages
Pages of content, digitized for the first time.
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