It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (1994)

This “autobiography” of Nelson Mandela was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel (Molelekoa, Sophia. “Tladi Ditshego, Rick Stengel and the writing of Long Walk to Freedom.” Nelson Mandela Foundation, 2022). Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and the first Black president of South Africa. This book chronicles his life, from his childhood as a young Xhosa boy, through his juvenile and young adult years, and through his almost three decades imprisoned by the apartheid government. It chronicles his history as an activist and eventually a politician. One of the most important themes toward the end of the novel is how South Africa continues to struggle with apartheid even after it’s “ending,” which is a sentiment Trevor Noah’s memoir also seems to share.

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Amandla by Miriam Tlali (1980)

Tlali was the first Black South African woman to publish a novel, the semi-autobiographical Muriel at Metropolitan (alternate title: Between the Two Worlds) which, though heavily redacted by the publisher, was still banned by the apartheid government. This is her second novel, and it was also banned by the government. It focuses on the events of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, which was a series of uprisings led by Black children in protest of the mandate to learn Afrikaans, the language of their oppressors, in school. The children were met with brutal physical and gun violence from the police. Hundreds were killed. Tlali was a resident of Soweto during these events. Her novel takes an intersectional look at the problems experienced under apartheid, reckoning with both racial and gender inequality.

And a Threefold Cord by Alex La Guma (1964)

La Guma is one of the most important Black South African authors and anti-apartheid activists. Born in 1924, he was the one-time leader of the South African Coloured People’s Association. Like Nelson Mandela, he was tried by the apartheid government in the 1956 Treason Trials; at that time, none of the 156 defendants were convicted. Four years later he began writing for a progressive anti-apartheid newspaper and was placed on house arrest, and then moved into solitary confinement. After his release, he and his family lived the rest of his life in exile in the UK. This book explores how exploited and oppressed people can find solidarity under the apartheid regime and is heavily critical of the apartheid government. It was influential in shaping the anti-apartheid movement that rose through the 1970s and on.