Travel as Activism: Stories of Black women who defied apartheid’s borders For Black South Africans under apartheid, the simple act of moving across towns or borders was a political statement. Travel was heavily policed, particularly for women, who were described by writer Lauretta Ngcobo as occupying the “rock bottom of the racial pile.” The apartheid government, in power from 1948 until 1994, perfected laws that restricted mobility. Pass laws extended into the 1950s, targeting Black women with new intensity. Travel abroad was weighed down by bureaucracy, costs, and state scrutiny. For working...