Miriam Makeba Research Paper

Miriam Makeba, a South African born musician, contributed her efforts towards the struggle of apartheid. She composed songs in correspondence to severe matters South Africans had to deal with. During her exile she created an increase of awareness of the hardships that black South Africans faced. Makeba was involved in several campaigns and the movements against apartheid and racial segregation.

Miriam Makeba was born on the 4th of March in Johannesburg 1932. Her mother was imprisoned for illegally brewing beer when she wasn’t even one-month old which caused her to spend the first six months of her life in prison. Her mother brewed the beer in order to provide for her family, as black people never earned a high salary and struggled to find jobs due to the restrictions that the apartheid government put in place. This was common in South Africa as high paying jobs and luxurious lifestyles were reserved for the whites which left the black people with many hardships in supporting their families and majority of them were impoverished.

Often black people were arrested or got into trouble with the South African government for participating in movements that were anti-apartheid. Miriam Makeba was one of many who were victimised for expressing her feelings. Makeba was in a movie which showed the country in a negative light and the apartheid system that was operative at the time. The government would ban movies as such in South Africa because they did not want people to agree with what was being said about the government. Makeba’s singing role in the movie attracted the interest of Harry Belafonte who helped her to immigrate to the United States of America, from then on she performed internationally singing her songs and creating more support against the apartheid