All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa

by Richard Conyngham, Dada Khanyisa (Illustrator), Liz Clarke (Illustrator)

A graphic anthology celebrating pivotal human rights court cases—the stories of which have never been told before—in South Africa’s pre-apartheid years, and the unsung heroes who sacrificed everything to ensure a better future for all.

All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa revives six true stories of resistance by marginalized South Africans against the country’s colonial government in the years leading up to Apartheid. In six parts—each of which is illustrated by a different South African artist—All Rise shares the long-forgotten struggles of ordinary, working-class women and men who defended the disempowered during a tumultuous period in South African history. From immigrants and miners to tram workers and washerwomen, the everyday people in these stories bore the brunt of oppression and in some cases risked their lives to bring about positive change for future generations.

This graphic anthology breathes new life into a history dominated by icons, and promises to inspire all readers to become everyday activists and allies. The diverse creative team behind All Rise, from an array of races, genders, and backgrounds, is a testament to the multicultural South Africa dreamed of by the heroes in these stories—true stories of grit, compassion, and hope, now being told for the first time in print.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, Nonfiction, South Africa, Africa, Social Justice, Historical

220 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

To the outside world the history of South Africa is the story of apartheid, a system of state imposed racism that wove together settler colonialism, anti-communism, and ‘scientific’ racism. Yet apartheid did not just appear, out of the blue, but was built on, extended, and transformed a long running tendency towards systematic racism, including through legislation and practices refined and enhanced in the first half of the 20th century. In All Rise Richard Conyngham and his collaborating illustrators explore six cases of working class and people of colour’s resistance to that emerging regime, including trade union organising, opposition to systems of racialized surveillance and control, and defence of autonomy and self-government.

Conyngham’s primary source materials for most of these cases is the records of the South African Supreme Court, which while it may seem odd is not unusual – many workers and other marginalised, subaltern and oppressed peoples have their individual existence marked only in their encounters with the law. Increasingly historians are working with these sources, finding innovative ways to read, contextualise, and interpret them Conyngham has expanded the narrative through exploring other sources – archival and secondary – to given these individual cases wider resonance and significance. That these cases made it to the Supreme Court means that had resonance and significance anyway, in some cases shaping South African law in principle and practice until after the defeat of the apartheid regime.

Two cases deal with resistance to the laws that required people of colour to carry documentation at all times, three to trade union and working class activism –two strikes and the 1922 Rand Rebellion marked by armed conflict between the state and workers, and one to ability of Indigenous nations to manage their own systems of self-government. Five resulted in specific legal action in the Supreme Court – one of the strikes did not. Some of the cases are politically problematic, in one case negotiating within the framework of unjust law, while one of the cases of strike action was designed to defend while working class advantage. Resistance and rebellion here are clearly distinct!

Conyngham has built a focus on subaltern individuals at time when state records have very little to say about them. One of the cases of resistance to the ‘pass laws’ focused on women in a community near Pretoria, and while there is evidence of those detained in police records, the woman at the core of the case left only 11 words of her own in the historical record: an answer to one question in the court record. This brings home both the difficulty in identifying individuals from marginalised communities in the historical record, and with that the importance of this collection. These are voices we do not conventionally hear.

Crucial in that being heard is also the format; there is a continuing debate among historians about how to reach audiences beyond the usual big-book-reading audience we usually get to, such that in the last 15 years or so we have seen a rise in graphic non-fiction telling stories of oppressed and marginalised communities. Here, Conyngham has worked with six different graphic artists – well, seven, one is two people – to tell these stories. Along with each case there is a short illustrated appendix looking at the evidence and how the case was unpicked, as well as a bibliography if we want to look further. The publisher, Jacana Press in South Africa, has done well with the design features of this collection also to make it coherent despite the differences in drawing styles.

I’ve looked a quite a few of these graphic histories; this is one of the best. It is valuable for both what it does and how it does it – very highly commended.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, this is a part of the world I'm not very familiar with. This book was incredibly informative - and made the information more easily accessible. Not only does it provide a narrative story for several events, but includes sources at the end of each section to back up what it talked about. Very well done.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily the most compelling concept for a novel I have read thus far in 2023.

Referencing primary source documents for artistic construction? Acknowledging local creators and their passion for history? Conveying politically charged court cases through an accessible graphic novel format? AND endorsements from retired South African Supreme Court justices? Come on. That’s awesome.

Came in with little to no background information on these topics. Appreciated how each case represented the “common man/woman” (from variety of ethnic backgrounds as well) and presented its own moral dilemma. While I would have liked to see a bit more contextualization around each setting, I can appreciate that what was presented was already highly researched.

Overall, elated I stumbled across this at the library and incredibly confused as to why this isn’t more popular.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

WOW! This graphic novel--3.5 for me simply because the stories needed a bit more historical context so that I could understand the lay of the land at that time--made me realize just how little I know about South Africa. To be honest, much of my knowledge centers around Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu, and apartheid, and I had no idea about these instances of rebellion on the part of members of the working class. The author has sifted through piles of century-old case records housed in the Supreme Court of Appeals basement archive in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and relied on that research in order to tell how regular individuals fought for their rights in various ways and the legal rulings that resulted from those efforts. This book focuses on the period between 1910 and 1948, covering six different pivotal movements, including the registration process required of South African Indians, the municipal tram workers strike in Johannesburg, the Transvaal Night Pass Ordinance, and the inhuman conditions of workers in the mines near Johannesburg and efforts to equalize pay. All but the one of the chapters or stories examines legal decisions that would have far-reaching effects, and all six chapters use stunning graphic illustrations to tell those stories. At the end of each chapter, a brief discussion of the events and the research that led to the material used in the stories is provided, alongside archival records, letters, personal accounts, and photographs. Additionally, readers can compare some of the illustrators' sketches to the photographs of the events and individuals. Although I didn't always understand everything that was covered here because little about South African is part of the social studies and history curriculum in the United States, I finished the book humbled by the efforts to right wrongs on the part of ordinary men and women who somehow found the courage to stand up for what was right and try to foster change. As others have remarked, if ALL parts of history were told in a graphic novel format, perhaps even the most complex aspects of the law, politics, and various movements would be much more accessible. That said, such a format runs the risk of making those events seem simpler than they might have been. Still, I was deeply engaged throughout my reading and appreciated the six different examples of visual storytelling.

[K.C. Norton]

I'm truly not sure how to rate this, but I did want to leave a note because this is such an interesting graphic novel premise.

I'm finding that nonfiction graphic novels add a visual element that change my understanding of the subject. Frankly, I don't think I could have gotten through a pure-text version of this project, as it's almost entirely centered around legal cases from South African history. This book covers an array of legal cases (and one that never went as far as the courts) that center around different forms of resistance. Even in this format, I found the text component so dense and legalese that I sometimes struggled to make sense of it. A few of the cases talked a lot about public sentiment, and I didn't fully understand the context, so I still fumbled a bit there, too.

One thing that surprised me was the variety of cases they picked, and how the judges and lawyers involved with each case would either contort the law to fit the ruling they wanted to hand down, or use pre-existing corruptions of the law to justify their stance. One case in particular boiled down to, "Well, in the past we've set a legal precedent that Black women aren't technically people, so I guess in this case the phrasing of this other laws means that a Black woman can't BREAK the law, which only applies to people. She's off the hook." UMM????

The little sections at the end of each chapter that detail the origins of the visual elements were quite interesting. I'm almost more interested in the creative and research processes than in the final book, since so much nuance in the cases themselves had be sacrificed for the sake of the format.

Either way, these vignettes addressed issues I knew nothing about, but since anyone in the US with two braincells to rub together should be thinking about resistance right now, I still recommend it even if I thought the chapters could have benefitted from greater detail.

[Jennybeast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, this is a bit of an odd duck -- partly because it's such a unique viewpoint (court cases) and partly because it's not directly about apartheid; it's about some of the events and the legal decisions that underpinned the history leading up to apartheid. I found it appealing for a host of reasons, but I'm not sure how you categorize it.

Anyway, I feel that this book is an invaluable resource for understanding a long and troubled history. It's also really well done across the board -- compact and moving short narratives, excellent imagery, excellent storytelling and very fascinating source materials at the end of each chapter to back up the story as told. I was hoping this would be somehow more hopeful and less depressing, but given the subject matter that was a long hope and not necessarily a reasonable one. I also think maybe that since I don't know that much about South African history and apartheid that a more educated reader might be able to draw logical conclusions from these cases to add to their understanding of the whole. For me, I found it really interesting, but I didn't have the background to say, oh! so the widow story leads to this movement that eventually brought apartheid down -- but I suspect that longer narrative is present for someone with more context.

I'd love to see more of this sort of book in the future. Personal stories, stories of less famous activists who nonetheless have a large impact on the future, history of courts -- these are all powerful, and an even more powerful incentive to do better in the future. Really well done.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

Culled from over a century of case records housed in the Supreme Court of Appeals basement archive in Bloemfontein, the six graphic stories in ALL RISE: RESISTANCE AND REBELLION IN SOUTH AFRICA illuminate dark corners of South Africa's past: unsung heroes (and villains); oppression and inequity, met with bravery and resistance; legal battles that either bore justice or, more often than not, laid the groundwork for many more decades of suffering.

Conyngham concentrates on the "Union Years" - the years between South Africa's unification in 1910 and the beginning of apartheid in 1948 - and each story is illustrated by a South African artist:

"Until the Ship Sails" - Indian immigrants who traveled to South Africa as indentured servants were forced to carry registration certificates at all times, leading to Satyagraha, in which cards were burned en mass

"In the Shadow of a High Stone Wall" - The 1911 Johannesburg municipal tram workers' strike

"Come Gallows Grim" - The 1922 Rand Rebellion, an armed uprising of white gold miners in the Witwatersrand region; or rather, the questionable trial and execution of one of the rebels, Taffy Long, for murder

"The Widow of Marabastad" - The attempt, in 1925, to apply pass laws to women, and the mass protests and civil disobedience that ensued

"A House Divided" - An attempt in the early 1920s by some members of the Royal Bafokeng Nation to steer their monarchy in a more democratic direction, spurred in part by the malfeasance of their ruler, August Molotlegi

"Here I Cross to the Other Side" - The African miners' strike of 1946, "the first major union-led industrial action by African workers in South African history," which left at least nine workers dead, 1250 injured, and resulted in the downfall of the African Mine Workers Union (AMWU)

Conyngham manages to distill these chapters of South African history into engaging, informative narratives - especially impressive when there's precious little for him to work with, as is the case with "The Widow of Marabastad." ALL RISE is a welcome jumping off point for those wishing to learn more about South African history, especially in regards to racism, capitalism, and labor rights.

[Susan Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the format of this book and would like to see it replicated, especially in history books for kids. Each chapter starts with a graphic depiction of a true incident in S. Africa's history, and then it's followed by the actual artifacts found in historical archives.

I also appreciated the appreciation of the unsung hero/little guy. In each story, everyday people do something outstanding and courageous, showing we all have power to make a difference, even if the effects are not fully seen for decades.

So, the only thing I didn't like about the book was simply that the stories did not have enough background for me and were often confusing and even boring. That may be on me, as someone who does not have a lot of knowledge of the history of S. Africa. The one that resonated the most was the final story, about striking gold miners in Johannesburg. Most compelling and easiest to relate to.

[Dexia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very effective as a graphic novel— stories of resistance told by different authors and illustrators of different backgrounds and with hugely different styles and positions. Reads like an anthology (the greatest sin of an editor) and is not a fraction as compelling as this book should have been.

If i knew more about south african history i may have enjoyed this more, but i feel that the stories that this book is setting out to tell are just too big to remain so dense in their telling.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly detailed, well-researched graphic work of nonfiction about resistance and rebellion in South Africa in the early part of the century. I did not know any of this history and it was so well told.

[Shanreadsnwrites · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel is a phenomenal book showcasing stories of every-day South Africans struggling towards freedom in the 1910s-1940s. Using archival research from Bloemfontein’s High Court, this graphic novel pieces together a narrative history of the this period - and how the courts influenced SA’s history and trajectory. 4.75/5 stars

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfamiliar with the time period, All Rise is a fascinating presentation of archival material in an instructive graphic format.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOVE the use and display of primary documents, not just for research but for art inspiration as well.