Nadine Gordimer’s 1981 dystopian novel July’s People was published in 1981, while the apartheid system of institutionalized racism was still in effect in South Africa. The novel imagines a turbulent end to apartheid. The system was officially codified in 1948 but had its origins in centuries-old exploitation. In 1652, the Netherlands became the first European country to colonize the vast territories now known as South Africa. Gradually, white settlers began to dominate the region, taking possession of the land by force and enslaving much of the Black population. Eventually, the British Empire absorbed much of the region, and it was thus subject to the United Kingdom’s Slavery Abolition Act of 1833; however, this did not appreciably improve conditions for Black people because the brutal “indentured labor” system that followed abolition was de facto slavery in all but name.

For the next century, South Africa’s white-dominated colonies continued to systemically exploit the land and its Black population, denying Black people the right to vote and allowing them to work only menial jobs. In 1910, the region’s four main colonies merged to form the white-ruled Union of South Africa, and in 1948, apartheid (meaning “separateness”) became the nation’s official policy, further consolidating white control and legislating a rigid hierarchy based on race and ethnicity.