On March 26th, 1953 my grandfather, Vancouver Sun columnist Jack Scott, travelled to South Africa to report on "the race question" during the 1953 elections. He was a staunch critic of apartheid and its oppressive laws which dehumanized and denied the vote to nearly 10,000,000 black and "colored" (mixed-race) South Africans. His personal translation of apartheid was "apart-hate", and while he reported on South Africa's gold mines, he called out hatred as the country's greatest natural export.  

When Scott returned home, he faced his critics unapologetically, writing that "the doctrine of race supremacy is just a form of slow suicide."

From South Africa he continued on to Mozabique and Kenya and did not fly home to Vancouver until early May. 

For his South Africa series, Scott was awarded with the 1953 National Newspaper Award in the category of International (Norman Webster Award; formerly Staff Corresponding, Foreign Reporting). This is the highest award that can be given to a Canadian  journalist and the award made Scott Canada's top correspondent reporter that year.  

I have transcribed here all of his writing from his time in South Africa: a series of 9 articles; 4 longer in-depth features, and his daily Our Town columns which he continued to file in his familiar and personal storytelling style for his readers back home. 

I have written a synopsis at the start of each article for ease of reading. 

-Mary Fowles