Dec 20, 2009

Valley Song | Historical Context

The most significant historical event surrounding the creation of Fugard's Valley Song was the dismantling of apartheid and South Africa's rebirth as a free society just as the play was being produced. ‘‘Apartheid,’’ which means ‘‘separateness’’ in the Afrikaans language, was the set of laws used by the white, ruling National Party between 1948 and 1992 to segregate the races in South Africa and provide different rights and privileges to each. Under the apartheid system, there were four official races: white, black, ‘‘Coloured’’ (mixed-race), and Asian....