The African People's Organisation (APO), also known by its original name African Political Organisation was a

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

political organisation in early-20th-century South Africa. Founded in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 1902, the organisation rallied South African Coloureds (an ethnic group in South Africa) against the

South Africa Act 1909 The South Africa Act 1909 (9 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Orange River Colony, Orange ...

Trafalgar High School Trafalgar High School is a government-funded co-educational secondary day school, located in Trafalgar, West Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It officially opened in 1964 after running classes on the original Trafalgar Primary School grounds ...

was created as a direct result of criticism of the Cape School Board in the APO newspaper in August 1911. Investigations found that the board had created no benefit at all for students who were non-

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

. Abdullah Abdurahman lobbied the board and the first school for coloured children was created. The school was led by Abdullah Abdurahman's prodigy, Harold Cressy.History
, school site, retrieved 11 August 2014 The name was changed in 1919, during the

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

that followed World War I, with the intention of demonstrating the organisation's change of focus to addressing the social and economic needs of Coloured people. The APO also published a newspaper called ''The APO'' until its demise in 1923.

References

Defunct civic and political organisations in South Africa 1902 establishments in South Africa Organizations established in 1902 Political parties of minorities in South Africa Anti-apartheid organisations {{SouthAfrica-party-stub

See also

References