15^th June 2009 To mark the tenth anniversary of Nelson Mandela stepping down from the presidency in South Africa and twenty years since the first steps were made to dismantle apartheid; the BBC release ‘Life under Apartheid: Racial Segregation in South Africa', a new online collection of interviews, documentaries, news items and related documents from the BBC Archives.

The collection, made up of 22 programmes and eight documents is designed to give audiences an understanding of what life was like for South Africans under apartheid during the political unrest and reform in the 1980s and '90s. BBC News items about racial classification and full length BBC documentaries considering conditions for black South Africans illustrate how the apartheid system controlled everyday life. Major events such as the Sharpeville Massacre and the assassination of Dr Verwoerd are also highlighted within this collection.

The collection includes an interview with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli from 1954; Harold Macmillan's ‘Winds of Change' speech in full with the response from Dr Verwoerd and an eye witness report on the Soweto Uprising in 1976.

Through the creation of these online collections, the BBC hopes to release hidden treasures providing a fascinating source of socio-political history. The BBC archive, which holds nearly 1m hours of TV and radio programming, serves as a reminder of how the BBC evolved, and has an unrivalled record of modern history. 

This collection is the latest in a series to be released online which explore the cultural and political developments that shaped the 20^th century.  The new collection goes live on June 16^th and you can view the collection by going online.