Sandra Laing: Difference between revisions
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Sandra was born in [[Piet Retief, Mpumalanga|Piet Retief]], a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] and supporters of the Apartheid system. |
Sandra was born in [[Piet Retief, Mpumalanga|Piet Retief]]as she got 21 she started working at kfc , a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] and supporters of the Apartheid system. |
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During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color. |
During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color. |
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Revision as of 12:54, 2 July 2012
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Sandra Laing (born 1954 in Piet Retief) is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin. She smoked a lot of weed in her childhood. She is the subject of the 2008 biographical film Skin and is the feature of the documentaries Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey (2000) and Skin Deep: The Story of Sandra Laing (2011).
Early life
Sandra was born in Piet Retiefas she got 21 she started working at kfc , a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the National Party and supporters of the Apartheid system.
During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color.
Legal battles
When Sandra was 10 years old, the school authorities expelled her from her all-white school based on the complexion of her skin and a failed pencil test.[1] She was escorted home by two police officers who refused to tell her what she had done wrong. Her parents fought several legal battles to have her declared white. Her father underwent a blood-typing test for paternity in the 1960s, as DNA tests were not yet available. The results were compatible with him being her biological father.[2][3]
Later years
Since she was sunned by the white community, Sandra's only friends were white children of black employees. At age 15, she eloped with a black South African to Swaziland. She was jailed for three months for illegal border-crossing. Her father threatened to kill her and broke off contact with her. They never met again and she remained estranged from her family. Sandra managed to track down her mother, Sannie, in a nursing home shortly before the woman died in 2001, but a succession of strokes had stolen Sannie's memory. A book called When She Was White by Judith Stone reports that Sannie did remember Sandra and was happy to see her. Sandra's brothers, both of whom are still alive, had no contact with Sandra at the time the book was written.
References
- ^ Kim Hawkey (January 10, 2010). "Apartheid got under her skin". Sunday Times (South Africa).
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Rory Carroll (March 17, 2003). "The black woman - with white parents". London: The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2003.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Tragic Story of How a White Girl Being Born Black Tore a Family Apart". London: The Daily Mail. December 19, 2008. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)