by Bessie Head

South Africa: Can a Country Overcome Its History?
This online exhibit from Annenberg/CPB offers a history of South Africa. The site also includes resources and interactive time lines to test your knowledge of what you have read. Use the information on this site as a resource for the Internet Connection activity listed in your textbook.

The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela: The Prisoner
Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner in South Africa for 27 years, 18 of those in the prison on Robben Island. This site is devoted to that time period and contains interviews, writings, and video footage. Read The Dark Years and The Most Important Person in Any Prisoner’s Life. How were Mandela and Brille, from "The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses," alike in their handling of wardens? Write a comparison of Mandela’s and Brille’s prison experiences.

Bessie Head
This site, part of the Postcolonial Studies at Emory University, contains a biography of Bessie Head along with key quotations taken from her writings. Read the biography and the quotations and then discuss what it meant for Bessie Head to live and work as a writer in South Africa. What kinds of personal and social issues did she have to deal with in order to become a successful writer? What traditions did she draw from in her writing? Use your journal for your response.