Calling all able-bodied menDuring World War I, newspaper adverts targeted black men to join the Allied war effort.
Recruits wanted
2 500 Coloured Drivers are required immediately for service in Europe with Auxillary Home Transport Companies (Army Service Corps).
Full particulars as to conditions of service, pay, etc., can be obtained from the nearest District Staff Officer, Magistrate, or Assistant Magistrate.
Mobilisation will take place at Kimberly, to which place successful applicants will be sent. Full Military uniform and kit issued by Defence Department.
- Cape Times, March 12, 1917, p. 4 |
"You are going to die, but that is what you came to do... Let us die like warriors." Reverend Isaac Wauchope 
King George V inspects the SA Native Labour Corps, France, 1917
Picture: © SA National Museum of Miltary History
IN THE CLASSROOM |
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In this lesson plan, learners will study two transcripts of oral sources and will be encouraged to appreciate the insights and feelings that these sources offer us. They will also study a "minute" from Louis Botha, the Prime Minister at the time of the disaster, and resolutions passed by a Christian African community on how they planned to carry forward the fight for the Empire. You′ll need the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader to view these lesson plans. Download it here.  | Archive Photo Gallery | | A small collection of images of Reverend Wauchope and the men who died with him in the SS Mendi disaster. |
 | The brave Reverend Wauchope | | In February 1917, hundreds of SA Native Labour Corps members died when the troopship SS Mendi sank in the freezing waters of the English Channel. |
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