The History Channel has a special line-up of documentaries this month that focus on African history.
Each of the documentaries are being broadcast on alternating Saturday nights and Sunday nights at 20h30, under the title Africa Month.
A look at the line-up:
Bhambatha UprisingPremiered the line-up on: Saturday 10th October 2009 at 20h30
The story of the Bhambatha rebellion is one of resistance, heroism and ultimately of violent colonial conquest.
This Special unearths the dramatic events surrounding the 1906 revolt in the colony of Natal and exposes the spirit of those who organised a formidable fight back when faced with escalating levels of oppression at the turn of the century.
-----
Uganda UprisingOn: Sunday 18th October 2009 at 20h30
A documentary about Uganda, her stolen children and the fight to be free.
For two decades the Acholi people of Northern Uganda have been caught in a civil war between a rebel group whose main objective is inhumane terror and a government whose military response has often increased misery and suffering.
Over one and a half million people have been displaced into camps and over 25,000 children have been abducted to be used as soldiers and sex slaves. Yet through it all, every day across Acholi-land, something remarkable happens - children who have never known peace, face the day as if to live this way is normal, as if they still believe in the future. These children are the foucs of this Special.
-----
Scorched Earth On: Saturday 24 October 2009 at 20h30
Using official documents and archive footage experts discuss all preconceived ideas about the Anglo-Boer War. This documentary focuses on Britain’s merciless ‘Scorched Earth’ policy, the concentration camps for Afrikaner women, children and black people, as well as the way it shaped the collective South African psyche and politics of the 20th century.
-----
Soweto RisingOn: Sunday 25th October 2009 ay 20h30
The Soweto Uprising was the day that ignited the anti-apartheid struggle around the world and which faciliatated the eventual fall of the white dominated apartheid regime.
The Soweto Uprising has since become a metaphor for the fight against apartheid - but few people actually know what happened on that first day and the violence that it launched in townships across South Africa.
This documentary tells the details of the uprising from the perspectives of witnesses and participants. The show also explores the possibility that violence is a necessary catalyst to political change.
The History Channel is on DStv Channel 254