Africa Shall Be Free: We Shall Free Her

This poster commemorates Freedom Day, observed by South Africa’s African National Congress and other organizations sympathetic to the struggle against apartheid. June 26, which appears in the bottom right, was the date of a nationwide protest in 1950 to honor 18 black South Africans killed a month prior during an International Workers’ Day strike. The strapping man and woman depicted, each with a rifle on their back, signal the idea of militant resistance against the forces of apartheid. Today, Freedom Day is a national holiday in South Africa, celebrated on April 27 in remembrance of the country’s first democratic election.