Apartheid
"It always seems impossible until its done."
What was Apartheid? And why is it a problem?
Apartheid means a policy or system of segregation of race. The problem with Apartheid is that it was not fair for blacks. They lost a lot of things and it just wasn’t fair. Many of them were put into jail and others were forced to live with other blacks in a place with bad electricity and sometimes bad plumbing. Some of them lost their citizenship. Whites ruled everything, got better stuff, and everything for them was just better.
Who was in it and what did they do?
Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South Africa. He was in the jails with many other South Africans and when he was let out he became the president. F.W. de Klerk was the last president during the apartheid era. He helped end apartheid by allowing Nelson Mandela to get out of jail.
Important Events
1800- British came to South Africa. Discovery of diamonds and gold. A 3 year war began and the British won, this became known as the Boer War.
1900- Apartheid began in 1930. Many South Africans protested against apartheid. Then in 1991 the government finally agreed to bring Apartheid to an end. In 1994, they had their first democratic election where they elected Nelson Mandela, the first black president.
How did they fix this problem?
When de Klerk let Mandela out of jail he helped end it. Mandela turned to violent acts when the government banned ANC. He said he was willing to die for his cause and by saying that, he gained many followers. Mandela said he would not leave jail until apartheid was ended. The government agreed and let him out after 27 years.That was when apartheid started to come to an end. He was then elected president and he could finally end apartheid and bring happiness back to South Africa.
What have we learned from it?
We can learn from here that everyone is equal and that they should all be treated that way. This also shows that anyone can make a change. Nelson Mandela was in jail but he still wanted to make a change and he was going to do that, and he did!