Article: CULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: CAPE TOWN REVISITS A BRUTAL COLONIAL ERA

Anthony Stoppard
Inter Press Service English News Wire
06-29-2001
CAPE TOWN, Jun. 28 (IPS) -- One of the greatest testaments to
the history of slavery in this city is its telephone directory,
where the origins of many of its citizens can be seen in the
names given to their forebears by slave owners.
"Many slaves were give biblical names or named after the
months of the year," explains Ramzie Abrahams of the South
African Cultural History Museum. "Today we can recognize those
names in the telephone directory."
January and February, Abrahams and Jacobs are common surnames
in the Cape Town telephone directory.
South Africa is the one country on the African continent where
slaves were imported ...

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