African History Choice Board
Learn all about africa
Colonization/ Slave Trade
Chart Information
Apartheid in South Africa
In 1948, Apartheid was introduced to South Africa. Apartheid is a set of laws that separated different racial groups from each other. White people and black people couldn’t get married. There were certain jobs that only white people could be hired to do. Black people were forced to carry a form of identification if they wanted to enter into areas that were considered “non-black.”
Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 lived during the time of Apartheid. When he was growing up, he became more and more involved in groups and movement that wanted to bring change to South Africa. This made him a very dangerous man in the eyes of the politicians who were working to ensure racial segregation laws remained in place. Eventually, Nelson Mandela was arrested and given a life sentence in jail. For nearly 30 years he was held in prison, where he became an international symbol of resistance to Apartheid. Finally, in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released due to pressure on the government. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and, when South Africa held its first multi-racial election in 1994, he became the country’s first ever black president.
The Berlin Conference
The Berlin conference was a series of meetings held during the 1880's, by European nations, that discussed how to divide Africa’s land even though Africa’s rulers did not attend. There was many outcomes of the Berlin Conference, some good but some bad. A good outcome is that this ended slave trade, built new roads, made the schools better, added more modern technology, and better health care. A bad thing about the Berlin Conference is that it split up cultures and forced others together, stole wealth of natural resources, killed millions of Africans, and made artificial or political boundaries that are still a source of contention to this day. The countries that were involved in the Berlin Conference were Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain.
Kenya Independence
When Kenya was given to Great Britain in the Berlin conference a lot of people in Kenya believed it to be unfair. The pan-Africanism movement was the first recorded resistance to colonialism in 1900 a conference took place in London were letters were written to European leaders to grant independence to African Nations. Later the fight to end British rule took a more violent turn when the Mau Mau group was created. This was their way of rebelling and showing their nationalism. Mau Mau was a secret organization that believed the only way to win Kenyan rights and independence was through the use of force. By 1954 Mau Mau was mostly defeated, but violence still continued. Eventually, the British granted Kenya there independence and in 1963 Jomo Kenyatta was elected president.
Nigeria Idependence
After the Berlin conference Nigeria was given to Great Britain. The British separated Nigeria into two colonies, but a lot of ethnic groups didn't like that and rebelled for independence.
By the 1940s, Nigerians started many organizations to fight British rule. Many Nigerians admired the British because of their education in England. However, most believed that the only way for Nigerians to have rights was to be free of European rule. By the late 1950's the British let Nigeria elect Abubkar Tafawa Balewa as their Prime Minister . On October 1, 1960 Nigeria was granted its independence. Unlike Kenya, a unique fact about Nigeria is that they did not have to fight GB for there independence.
South Africa Independence
The Union of South Africa was ruled by great Britain and the Dutch. In 1948, a National Party made a system of segregation known as Apartheid. This system resulted in the creation of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912, an anti-apartheid organization. In 1960, the ANC was banned and in 1964 Nelson Mandela, the leader of the ANC was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1961 South Africa gained independence, but for the first 30 years the Apartheid ruled. The system of Apartheid began to lose its grip on South Africa after F. W. de Klerk became the State president in 1989. He removed the ban on the ANC and in 1990 released Nelson Mandela from life imprisonment. In April, 1994, South Africa had their first democratic election which was won by Nelson Mandela who became the country's first Black president. Nelson Mandela showed his love for the country and so did all the other ANC members. These people in the group showed their nationalism for there country.