The troopship SS Mendi collided with the cargo ship Darro near the Isle of Wight in February 1917. More than 600 members of the South African Native Labour Corps died while travelling to support the Allied war effort. Their loss received limited recognition within segregated South Africa.

Xhosa poet S. E. K. Mqhayi commemorated the dead and helped make Mendi a foundational symbol in Black South African memory. Later poets used the ship to expose racial inequality, suppressed military service and the dignity of men denied equal citizenship.