The collection relates to the protests in Cato Manor in Durban in 1959, and consists of a series of photographs taken by V.L. Pierson during the days of the protests.

The protests, also commonly known as Beerhall Riots, initially broke out against the city's beerhalls. The actual reason though was the looming prospect of mass forced removals from Cato Manor, which had been declared a white zone under the Group Areas Act. Families that had lived there for generations were to be resettled to the racially segregated townships of KwaMashu, Umlazi and Chatsworth.