“Colours Do Not Mix”: Segregated Classes at the University of Natal, 1936–1959

This paper examines segregation in university education with special reference to the circumstances around which separate classes were introduced for Blacks in 1936 at the NUC and continued until 1959, some nine years after the institution achieved university status. It examines the roles of various individuals, most particularly Mabel Palmer (1876-1958) who, as organizer, was instrumental in persuading politicians, administrators, and academics to run segregated classes; and of E. G. Malherbe, who as Rector of the University of Natal from 1943-1965 defended them as the only practical alternative to a segregated university.