THESEGREGATIONERA
bers of the House of Assembly and Senate whom the Africans then elected
spoke up for their constituents in Parliament but did not significantly stem
the trend toward segregation and discrimination.V
The Dominion party was confined to Natal and of little account on the
national stage. The Purified National party was a different matter. It ad-
dressed its appeal to an Afrikaner population that was experiencing a rapid
rate of urbanization
and benefiting from state provision of compulsory
white education. During the late 193os, it built up its strength with the
support of a plethora ofAfrikaner cultural and economic organizations. At
the center of those organizations was the Afrikaner Broederbond (Broth-
erhood), a secret society of the Afrikaner elite-farmers,
businesspeople,
clergy, teachers, and academics. Wi~h the assistance of the Broederbond,
the Purified National party achieved a propaganda coup in 1938, when it
captured control of the organization of the centennial celebrations of the
Great Trek. The celebrations culminated in a ceremony laying the founda-
tion stone of a monument to the voortrekkers on a hill outside Pretoria.
There, orators painted the voortrekkers in heroic hues, giving them the