Special Report Transcript Episode 16, Section 2, Time 07:22

The 1950s saw wide spread resistance against the carrying of passes, a document which severely restricted the movement of Africans in the country of their birth. Hundreds of thousands of people were jailed for not carrying a valid passport. In 1952 the ANC launched a deliberate campaign of civil disobedience: the Defiance Campaign. The organisation gained momentum as a mass movement. In 1955 it was the nucleus at the Congress of the People where the Freedom Charter was adopted. This historic document wanted freedom and democracy for all and declared that South Africa belonged to all its people: white and black.

Notes: Film footage: pass arrest; Film footage: Launch of Defiance Campaign, 1955 Congress of the People; The Freedom Charter