Leonard Thompson

Leonard Thompson was the Charles J Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, USA, and director of the former Yale Southern African Research Program. Thompson was educated in England and South Africa and completed his studies at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University from 1937 to 1939. Thompson has also taught at the University of Cape Town where he became King George V Professor of History. A lifelong opponent of racial discrimination and...See more

Leonard Thompson was the Charles J Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, USA, and director of the former Yale Southern African Research Program. Thompson was educated in England and South Africa and completed his studies at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University from 1937 to 1939. Thompson has also taught at the University of Cape Town where he became King George V Professor of History. A lifelong opponent of racial discrimination and apartheid, he was a member of the Liberal Party in the 1950s and left South Africa for the United States in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. A prolific author and scholar, Leonard Thompson died in May 2005. Lynn Berat is an internationally renowned expert on southern African law and legal history who worked closely with Thompson on previous editions of A History of South Africa. See less