Insurgent youths who confronted apartheid are part of a long struggle between young and old in South Africa. "Blood From Your Children" traces this intense challenge to a pivotal episode a century ago that divided families along generational lines. Facing a series of ecological disasters that crippled agriculture in the 1890s, African youths in Natal and Zululand perceived their fathers' attempts to meet increased colonial demands as an act of betrayal, and increasingly spurned traditional and filial obligations. In 1906, ...
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Insurgent youths who confronted apartheid are part of a long struggle between young and old in South Africa. "Blood From Your Children" traces this intense challenge to a pivotal episode a century ago that divided families along generational lines. Facing a series of ecological disasters that crippled agriculture in the 1890s, African youths in Natal and Zululand perceived their fathers' attempts to meet increased colonial demands as an act of betrayal, and increasingly spurned traditional and filial obligations. In 1906, after the imposition of an onerous head tax on young men, this domestic turmoil fueled an armed uprising known as Bhambatha's rebellion. The young men sought revenge by attacking both the African patriarchs and the colonial troops dispatched to quell the violence. After the Natal forces crushed the insurrection, some captured rebels faced their father's adversarial testimony in treason trials. The military intervention eventually caused many more African youths to seek wage labour far from home, thus defusing the immediate generational turmoil. These young migrants soon formed the vanguard of political groups that continue to play a vital role in modern South Africa.
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