A history of Soweto’s Morris Isaacson High School

This project involves writing a history of one of Soweto’s most historically important secondary schools, Morris Isaacson High School. It is a remarkable school in many ways. Not only did it feature prominently in the 1976 uprising but it produced a significant chunk of Soweto’s professional and political elite for fifty years. In spite of the restrictive Bantu Education system it managed to produce good quality education during the 1960s and early 1970s and then suffered through the turbulent 1980s before facing a range of new challenges in the democratic era. The school provides a fascinating lens into the broader history of public secondary schooling in South Africa from the late 1950s until the Zuma presidency. The project will involve extensive oral history research, some of which has begun already. I have been fortunate to make contact with a group of Morris Isaacson alumni who have agreed to cooperate with me in sharing information and in facilitating access to alumni.