Protest and the lovedale riot of 1946: ‘Largely a rebellion against authority’?

Abstract

Protests occurred at many black educational institutions in South Africa before the usual dating of such occurrences from the 1970s on. Among these, a riot and related protests at Lovedale Institute in 1946 are explored here using archival material from extensive inquiries made contemporaneously by its authority figures, including its principal, staff, council and a committee of enquiry, with the voices of students and parents barely audible in these. The connections between the Lovedale protests and those in other educational institutions in 1946 are also indicated. The conclusion reviews features seen as characterising post-1976 protests, outlined in the introduction, in the light of the 1946 Lovedale protests.