Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje

Mhudi, the first full-length novel in English by a black South African, was written in the late 1910s. A romantic epic set in the first half of the nineteenth century, the main action is unleashed by King Mzilikazi's extermination campaign against the Barolong in 1832 at Kunana (nowadays Setlagole), and covers the resultant alliance of defeated peoples with Boer frontiersmen in a resistance movement leading to Battlehill (Vegkop, 1836) and the showdown at the Battle of Mosega (17 January 1839). Plaatje's eponymous heroine is an enduring symbol of the belief in a new day.

Mhudi

Native life in South Africa is one of South Africa's great political books. First published in 1916, it was first and foremost a response to the Native's land Act of 1913, and was written by one of the most gifted and influential writers and journalists of his generation.

Native Life in South Africa

Daniel Jones

A Sechuana Reader in International Orthography (with English Translations)

A Sechuana Reader in International Phonetic Orthography (with English Translations)

"Sol Plaatje's Mafeking Diary is a document of enduring importance and fascination. The product of a young black South African court interpreter, just turned 23 years old when he started writing, it opens an entirely new vista on the famous Siege of Mafeking. By shedding light on the part played by the African population of the town, Plaatje explodes the myth, maintained by belligerents, and long perpetuated by both historians and the popular imagination, this this was a white man's affair. One of the great epics of British imperial history, and perhaps the best remembered episode of the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, is presented from a wholly novel perspective. "At the same time, the diary provides an intriguing insight into the character of a young man who was to play a key role in South African political and literary history during the first three decades of this century. It reveals much of the perceptions and motives that shaped his own attitudes and intellectual development and, indeed, those of an early generation of African leaders who sought to build a society which did not determine the place of its citizens by the colour of their skin. The diary therefore illuminates the origins of a struggle which continues to this day." -- John L. Comaroff (ed.) in his preface

A Black Man's View of a White Man's War

Mafeking Diary

Native Life on South Africa, Before and Since the European War and the Boer Rebellion

Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since the European War and the Boer Rebellion

A comprehensive selection of Sol Plaatje's writings, including letters to the press, newspaper articles and editorials, pamphlets, political speeches evidence to government commissions of enquiry, unpublished autobiographical writings, and personal letters.

Selected Writings

Sol Plaatje

First published in 1916 and one of South Africa's great political books, Native Life in South Africa was first and foremost a response to the Native's Land Act of 1913, and was written by one of the most gifted and influential writers and journalists of his generation. Sol T. Plaatje provides an account of the origins of this crucially important piece of legislation and a devastating description of its immediate effects.

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje

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