The Deaths of Black People in British Concentration Camps

The deaths of black people in British concentration camps during the Boer War are treated as an afterthought. By July 1901 some 38,000 blacks were being held in special camps. Thousands of black men were taken into the service of the army where others were sent to work the gold mines. The white camps were provided with tents however leaky and drafty these may have been. Nothing of the sort was thought necessary for the blacks who were expected to build their own dwellings. On the upside eventually word of the nightmarish conditions in the concentration camps did escape South Africa and caused a wave of condemnation.