Forbidden friends

By E. A. Schneider

Subjects: Personal narratives, Friendship, Apartheid

Description: "Forbidden Friends chronicles the evolving friendship between the author, Elizabeth Schneider, a white American, and Elizabeth Mngadi, her black cleaning woman from Soweto. When the author moved to Johannesburg in 1975, during the apartheid period, such personal friendships were highly unusual - and strictly forbidden by the flat manager. Slowly the two Elizabeths became friends over secret tea breaks. The author, an anthropology graduate student at the time, kept a detailed diary about her field trips to rural tribal "homelands," their conversations about daily life in Soweto, and their terrifying encounters with the police. These true stories, many told with humor, reveal the dignity of people trying to rise above a dehumanizing system."--Publisher description.