Research Catalog
The land is ours : South Africa's first black lawyers and the birth of constitutionalism
- Title
- The land is ours : South Africa's first black lawyers and the birth of constitutionalism / Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
- Author
- Ngcukaitobi, Tembeka
- Publication
- Cape Town, South Africa : Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | ReCAP 19-3026 | Offsite |
Details
- Description
- 312 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm
- Summary
- "The Land Is Ours tells the story of South Africa's first black lawyers, who operated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In an age of aggressive colonial expansion, land dispossession and forced labour, these men believed in a constitutional system that respected individual rights and freedoms, and they used the law as an instrument against injustice. The book follows the lives, ideas and careers of Henry Sylvester Williams, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Ngcubu Poswayo and George Montsioa, who were all members of the ANC. It analyses the legal cases they took on, explores how they reconciled the law with the political upheavals of the day, and considers how they sustained their fidelity to the law when legal victories were undermined by politics.The Land Is Ours shows that these lawyers developed the concept of a Bill of Rights, which is now an international norm. The book is particularly relevant in light of current calls to scrap the Constitution and its protections of individual rights: it clearly demonstrates that, from the beginning, the struggle for freedom was based on the idea of the rule of law."--Back cover.
- Subjects
- Political culture
- Land use
- 1800-1999
- South Africa
- Land tenure
- Rule of law > South Africa
- Civil rights lawyers > South Africa
- Political culture > United States > History > 20th century
- History
- Black author
- Lawyers
- Human rights > South Africa
- United States
- Political culture > South Africa > History > 19th century
- Constitutional law
- Genre/Form
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Introduction -- Part one: Land (1. How the land was lost) -- Part two: Lawyers (2. 'Fair play and no favours' ; 3. 'We don't want to swamp the white man in Africa' ; 4. The 'most gentlemanly' Richard Msimang ; 5. 'In all races, genius is like a spark' ; 6. The unintended legacy of King Leopold) -- Part three: Legacies (7. Visions of equality in a divided Union ; 8. The birth of constitutionalism)
- Call Number
- ReCAP 19-3026
- ISBN
- 9781776092857
- 1776092856
- LCCN
- 2018429518
- OCLC
- 1022970286
- Author
- Ngcukaitobi, Tembeka, author.
- Title
- The land is ours : South Africa's first black lawyers and the birth of constitutionalism / Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
- Imprint
- Cape Town, South Africa : Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Chronological Term
- 1800-1999
- Local Subject
- Black author.
- Research Call Number
- ReCAP 19-3026