Apartheid in South Africa Essay

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

During the period of Apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 the reactions of the South African citizens towards the legal separation of races varied depending on race, ideals and time period. After gold and diamonds were fud inSouthAfrica both the dutch and British wanted the land to themselves, leading to the Boer War from which the Dutch farmers emerged victorious. Following the Boer War and the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Dutch Boers gained control over the majority of the land in the previously British Cape Colony along with the settlements they had already built, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Blacks in South Africa made up about eighty percent of the population but only lived on ten percent of

Children are often different from adults because they are often unaware of the rules that adults abide by. Nadine Gordimer held strong feelings of opposition to apartheid, which was a socioeconomic system in South Africa after 1948 that focused on the oppression and segregation of the non-white citizens who formed the majority of South Africa’s population, and her feelings are usually a dominate theme in most of her writing (Clugston, 2010). In her short story “Country Lovers,” Gordimer tells not only how this socioeconomic system has determinately affected the interracial relationship between the main charters, who were childhood playmates who

The quest for international support, mass mobilization, armed operations, and underground organization became the basis for the ANC’s “Four Pillars of Struggle”. On March 21st, 1960, the Pan Africanists Congress, an anti-Apartheid splinter organization formed in 1959, organized a protest to the National Party’s “pass laws” which required all citizens, as well as native Africans, to carry identification papers on them at all times. Over five thousand individuals came to protest the cause in Sharpeville. Unfortunately, police forces arrived and open fired on the protesters, killing ninety-six in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.

According to my research if we study the history of South Africa all we could see is racial discrimination. Africa was all in control of Whites till 1994. South Africa got free from racial discrimination when Nelson Mandela took a step became the first black prime minister of South Africa. Contemporary South Africa is now economically strong and it is completely a racial free state. The contemporary South Africa is now in race with every state in every field. Before 1994 South Africa was completely under control of Apartheid.

In the article ”Learn about South Africa”, Hannah Lantos educates us on how Black and coloured people who lived in South Africa, had little rights until a man named Nelson Mandela came along and restored equality. The native people in South Africa lived peacefully until diamonds and gold were discovered and many people went there to work in the mines and to own them (Lantos par.3). The conflict still continued and the native people had a very difficult time.”The Natives’ Land Act of 1913 severely restricted the ownership or land by ‘Black’ to the small percentage of 7%” (Lantos par. 4). The National Party was elected and they intensified the racial segregation program (Lantos par. 4). A man named Nelson Mandela was against this unfair apartheid

The national party achieved power in South Africa in 1948 the government, usually comprised on “white people”, and racially segregated the country by a policy under the Apartheid legislation system. With this new policy in place the black South African people were forced to live segregated from the white people and use separate public facilities. There were many attempts to overthrow the Apartheid regime, it persisted to control for almost 50 years.

The Mixed Marriages Act made marriage between the races against the law (Evans, 9). In 1952 a system of “pass laws” required blacks to carry identity papers or pass books so the government could identify and restrict them (Wright, 68). The “pass laws” were designed to separate the population and was the base of the apartheid system (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid had a major effect on the development of South Africa.

Around 1652, the Dutch East India Company created a settlement on the cape, leading to several other indigenous peoples settling in the area as well . This tactic nearly parallels with the colonization beginning throughout the rest of the world. White supremacy gradually took over South Africa as more and more of them colonized the country, and worked their way into government positions. The English pushed the natives out and eventually did not care about race, merely about the money that came from labor . The Land Act of 1913, was believed to be the initial beginning of the apartheid laws. This act initiated by white supremacists marked the first major downfall of segregation for the colored and Indian peoples of South Africa. The Afrikans were essentially “divided into nine nations” and approximately 93% of the land was reserved for the white people. 2/3 of the population of South Africa at the time was considered African, or native people, and these people were all banned from “freely buying land”, making conditions very harsh, and malnutrition was extremely common . Urbanization occurred with white people in power simply increasing the segregation between races. Africans continued to live and work in absolutely terrible conditions. They often resided in the outskirts of cities in derisory housing, with poor sanitation, were lucky to have a bit of electricity, and had awful people to manage their workplace. The

Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world today. Racial and religious conflicts; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle between the sexes; conflicts between management and labor; and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals all stem, in whole or in part, to oppression. It’s similar to an article in south africa that people have with racial segregation between black and white . Many people need to know that indiviual have their own rights in laws and freedom . Everyone should have an equal rights and better community . A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. The apartheid in South Africa which was in effect from 1948 until 1994 was not only a racist policy which greatly affected the quality of life of minorities in the country for the worse but was a outright crime against humanity. It include with civil right that violence verses non-violence that the government could or

History is subjective because it is a subject that is based on a person’s knowledge and opinions. While some events have obvious causes, other events must be analyzed to find their true impetus. One complicated era from history that has a debatable cause is Apartheid. While some historians cite complex causes for Apartheid, most people in the general public simply believe racism was the root of the institution. While racism did factor into later practices of Apartheid, racism was merely a byproduct of the social and cultural effects of the institution. When evidence is examined, the real cause of Apartheid becomes obvious. This era of South African history was not simply based on social practices such as racism; Apartheid was rooted

In this thesis the writer “J.Matisonn” writes about how the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) not only addressed issues of crimes against humanity that also affected the Human rights of people but the other thing the TRC did well if anything according to this article it that it also addressed those people , organizations and even institutions who used media and propaganda in order to not only further the cause of the Apartheid government but to hurt so many families and relatives in the process.

Apartheid was strongly enforced by minorities over the years but the Apartheid Museum (2003) states it was met with non-violent resistance until the early 1960’s. In 1949 the African National Congress was led by youths and they began advocating to stand up to white authority using mass campaigns. In 1950 they held a series of strikes and boycotts termed the Programme of Action. In 1959 a group of African National Congress members formed the Pan Africanist Congress which organized a demonstration on March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville where 69 people were killed by police in what is now called the Sharpeville massacre. In the 1970’s some students started the Black Consciousness Movement which supported the black pride and African customs that apartheid tried to destroy. Labor unions joined the

Millions were sent to one of the ten “homelands”. Homelands were underdeveloped rural areas that if you weren’t white you were forced to live there. There places were striken by poverty and crime. Although this is the ohnly place where colored and blacks had a sense of membership.

opinion of how the country works as he grew up, and when he was 16 the