Apartheid in South Africa 1948-1994
Shawn Huang
Before Apartheid
-1936 Representation of Voters Act- can only vote for white representatives
-South African National Native Congress (later became African National Congress- ANC)- formed by the opposition to the Land Act
Start of Apartheid-1948
- Afrikaner National Party wins the election
- Separate whites from coloreds from blacks, and blacks from other blacks based on tribes
- Increase the minority's power, while decreasing the majority's power
Peak of Apartheid- 1950s-1975
- non-white labor unions had less power
- non-whites could not participate in the national government
- Population Registration Act of 1950
- initiated classification of South Africa's population by race
- Extended Land Acts
- white minority received 80% of South Africa's land
- "Pass Laws" (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act)- 1952
- non-whites were required to carry legal documents of government authorization in order to enter restricted areas
- more than 10 million Africans arrested (1948-1973)
- Bantu Education Act- 1953
- the government controls the education received
- teaching about "white domination"
- prohibited attending white universities
- The Preservation of Separate Amenities Act- 1953
- promoted segregated facilities
- Public Safety Act and Criminal Law Amendment- 1953
- increased penalties for protesting against a law
- Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (Group Areas Act and Bantu Homelands Act)
- proposed by Hendrik Verwoerd
- established ten Bantu areas called Bantustans
- gave the government "the right to claim" that there was no "black" majority
- reduced unity amongst the blacks, and therefore, decreased the chances of having a large scale rebellion
- involuntary movement of 3.5 million blacks to Bantustans
"Pass Laws"
The Preservation of Separate Amenities Act
Bantu School
Opposition to Apartheid
- ANC and PAC- against "Apartheid"; against the Afrikaner National Party
- South African Students Organization- led by Steven Biko against "Apartheid"
- Congress of the People- Freedom Charter of 1955- Sharpeville in 1960
- PAC and ANC organized protest
- police officers opened fire and killed 67 people and wounded 180 people
- struck the leaders of PAC and ANC that "Apartheid" cannot be combatted with peace
- Nelson Mandela
- jailed from 1963-1990
- Soweto in 1976
- protest against mandatory Afrikaans language by students
- police used more violence to deal with the protest
Final Years of Apartheid- 1975-1994
- Apartheid Falling Apart
- increased boycotting of South African companies, civil disobedience, and law being repealed
- UN embargo on arms sales to South Africa- 1976- UK and US economic sanctions on South Africa- 1985
- Pieter Botha- removed ban on interracial marriage, repealed pass laws
- F.W. De Klerk- removed most laws that made "Apartheid"
- New constitution in effect in 1994, free elections, and Nelson Mandela is elected president