The song was popularised by a number of musicians, including Dorothy Masuka and Miriam Makeba, and became an anthem of the movement against apartheid.
The Afrikaner National Party (NP) was elected to power in South Africa in 1948, and remained in control of the government for the next 46 years.
[2] This relocation was part of a plan to separate the black population of South Africa into tiny, impoverished bantustans.
[6] As with many other protest songs of this period, "Meadowlands" was made popular both within and outside South Africa by Miriam Makeba,[2] and it became an anthem of the movement against apartheid.
[8] "Meadowlands" has subsequently been quoted in compositions by South African musicians, especially in Cape Town, and was covered by several artists, including the Tulips,[9] and Dolly Rathebe.
[10] The song was performed outside South Africa by several artists during the apartheid era, helping "expose the injustices suffered by oppressed racial groups", according to commentator Michaela Vershbow.