A cursory glance at a 1950’s copy of Drum magazine indicates that it is simply a picture magazine; its

short stories pulp fiction. A closer look, however, reveals black South Africans establishing an urban
identity despite the crushing Apartheid regime. Their perceptions of life in Johannesburg are rich in
contrasts.

Many of the Drum writers’ stories take place in Sophiatown, a multiracial neighbourhood four
kilometres from central Johannesburg. Since Sophiatown’s destruction under the Natives
Resettlement Act of 19541, these stories serve as memorials to a place now shrouded in myth 2. Their
stories blend fiction and journalism, thus hinting at auto-biography. While the stories’ emotive style
and sensationalism disqualify them as historical accounts, these attributes provide telling clues as to
their writers’ perceptions of 1950’s city life.

Drum writers themselves present a paradox. While they were actively accepted by the Sophiatown
community3, they were on a different level of education and employment to most of their
neighbours. This raises the question as to whether their perceptions of city life were necessarily
those of their readers. However, Drum’s success with its target market4 implies that these stories
provide a valid glimpse into urban life experienced by black South Africans in the 1950’s.

Historically, 1950’s Sophiatown was a slum. With large volumes of people migrating to Johannesburg
to seek employment, the once middle-class district became poverty stricken and overpopulated 5. In
The Birth of a Tsotsi, Henry Nxumalo refers to the ‘sea of squalor’ 6. This story of crime highlights the
individualism that circumstance brews, depicting Sophiatown as Tönnies’ Gesellschaft: a society
where relationships are ultimately based on self-interest 7.

In contrast to this, Requiem for Sophiatown, by Can Themba, conjures images of Sophiatown’s warm
friendliness - Tönnies’ Gemeinschaft. Gemeinschaft conceptualises societies where interaction is
based on solidarity springing from shared experiences and beliefs. 8 This story itself is filled with
contrasting descriptions of sanctuaries of peace and simple joy set next to images of devastation.

As well as illustrating Sophiatown’s disparities, Requiem for Sophiatown’s descriptions reveal a trend
common in 1950’s Drum writing – lyrical and, at times, brash style. Sophiatown, its shebeen culture,

1
Michael Chapman, More Than Telling A Story: Drum and its Significance in Black South African Writing, p. 185.
2
Ray Gaylard, Writing Black: The South African Short Story by Black Writers, p. 59.
3
Marie Snyman, Can Themba: the Life and Work of a Shebeen Intellectual, p. 4.
4
Michael Chapman, More Than Telling A Story: Drum and its Significance in Black South African Writing, pp.
186-194.
5
Ray Gaylard, Writing Black: The South African Short Story by Black Writers, pp. 61-63.
6
Henry Nxumalo, The Birth of a Tsotsi, p. 18.
7
Philip Kasinitz, Metropolis, p. 11.
8
Philip Kasinitz, Metropolis, p. 11.
crime and immorality are all romanticised. This style both mimics the vital, culturally reverberating
lifestyle led in Sophiatown and lends stories an air of escapism. Faced with grim circumstances, it
seems natural that Drum readers would prefer tales of quixotism to harshly realistic accounts of the
dreariness they faced daily. As Can Themba notes in the opening line of Requiem for Sophiatown:
“Realism can be star-scattering.”9

Another example of escapism is the preoccupation with everything American. While stories like The
Birth of a Tsotsi, Requiem for Sophiatown and Let the People Drink! only hint at this American
fixation with word choice and dialogue – “Aw, shut up, folks, you got no plan to liberate us” 10 –
American popular culture played a significant role in 1950’s Sophiatown life 11. It reinforced the
dream of freedom and luxury, both foreign concepts to the majority of non-white South Africans at
the time. The need for foreign affiliation could also have been a reaction against exclusive white
nationalism.

While it allowed vicariousness, cinema also glamorised the gangster. In The Birth of a Tsotsi, Henry
Nxumalo identifies circumstance as the culprit in criminal creation. American gangster films,
however, carried some blame. They created the image of gangsters as noble outlaws, rebelling
against and triumphing over unfair authority 12. With this image in mind and earning potential far
greater than average black South Africans’ jobs, it is little wonder that the streets of Sophiatown
were crime riddled.

Challenging authority held particular appeal to Drum writers. Shebeen culture, an integral part of
Sophiatown life, was illegal. Let the People Drink! shows the futility of Apartheid liquor laws. The city
represented a myriad of authorities to be defied. Unlike the generation before them, the 1950’s era
did not believe that polite persistence would serve any liberating purpose 13. Requiem for
Sophiatown illustrates people’s political discontent and budding ideas of violent protest. It also
refers to their rejection of tradition14. While rural traditions were still recognised – there was an
outcry after Drum published an article alleging that witch doctors were inciting ritual murder 15 -
Drum writers create the image of city life far removed from tribal customs. Many Drum writers were
supposed only to speak English.16 With the Bantu Education Act of 1953 designed to maintain a

9
Can Themba, Requiem for Sophiatown, p. 237.
10
Can Themba, Requiem for Sophiatown, p. 243.
11
Marie Snyman, Can Themba: the Life and Work of a Shebeen Intellectual, p.15.
12
Ray Gaylard, Writing Black: The South African Short Story by Black Writers, pp. 65-68.
13
Ray Gaylard, Writing Black: The South African Short Story by Black Writers, p. 58.
14
Can Themba, Requiem for Sophiatown, p. 242.
15
The Press: South African Drumbeats
16
Ray Gaylard, Writing Black: The South African Short Story by Black Writers, p. 59.
docile labour force by ‘retribalising’ black South Africans 17, English came to symbolise not only
education, but defiance.

This defiance masks the hopelessness underlying many of the Drum stories. Easy immorality, a
recurring theme, was possibly a method of numbing desolation. Tragically, many Drum writers’ days
ended in alcoholism18. In The Birth of a Tsotsi Henry Nxumalo implies deep futility in a young boy’s
hopes of forsaking a life of crime after leaving prison by juxtaposing it with a statement of having
stabbed multiple people19 and mentioning children graduating to a life of crime in reformatories 20.
Upon discovering the destruction of a favourite shebeen, described with pleasure, Requiem for
Sophiatown’s narrator states, “A nausea of despair rose up in me, but it was Bob who said the only
appropriate thing: ‘Shucks.’”21 In an era where Apartheid laws threw lives into turmoil on a daily
basis, grim acceptance was a method of survival.

Despite ambivalent attitudes leaning toward negativity, Drum writers unquestionably saw
themselves as urban products. Ironically, Sophiatown’s overcrowding shaped a vibrant, colourful
lifestyle that spoke of freedom denied elsewhere. Ultimately, the city was home.

17
Michael Chapman, More Than Telling A Story: Drum and its Significance in Black South African Writing, p.
185.
18
Michael Chapman, More Than Telling A Story: Drum and its Significance in Black South African Writing, p.
221.
19
Michael Chapman, More Than Telling A Story: Drum and its Significance in Black South African Writing, p.
196.
20
Henry Nxumalo, The Birth of a Tsotsi, p. 18.
21
Can Themba, Requiem for Sophiatown, p. 238.
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