Two Christmas Issues of South African Periodical; Both Celebrating the New Union of South Africa.

Johannesburg: Central News Agency, 1910. The first of the periodical is; South African Union and Pageant Souvenir with Which is Amalgamated The Argus Christmas Number, 1910. Argus; Capetown, 1910. Folio. 104 pp. plus the 12-page Pageant (predominantly photographic illustrations. Original illustrated publisher's wrappers. Staples have rusted and a few pages are dog-eared but a complete, sturdy and clean copy.The second is;United South African Xmas Annual. Johannesburgh: Central New Agency, 1910. Folio. 64 pp. plus 16 pp. of ads. Profusely illustrated with photographic illustrations. Wrappers appear to be missing, and a large portion sits loose in the periodical (a photographic section, front and back leaves with mild foxing. Despite these faults, a very good copy as the text is present in its entiretyRacial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before official apartheid began. It began with South Africa's autonomy from Britain. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was created as a self-governing dominion with the unification of the Cape, the Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange River colonies. The South Africa Act (1910) enfranchised white people, giving them complete political control over all other racial groups while removing the right of black people to sit in parliament. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would later become the African National Congress (ANC). Both of these periodicals are extremely enthusiastic about the new Union and, aside from publishing numerous fascinating photographs, most of the articles are positively hyperbolic about the furute.