History of South Africa

In the 1930’s it was rare for a black South African to attend college. But Mandela not only attended, he graduated, got a degree from law school, and set up a practice in Johannesburg which he hoped could support his small family. Yet apartheid was always a humiliation to him. When the Afrikaner, or Dutch South African, Nationalists came to power in the 1948 election, the segregation habits of the past three hundred years became law. Hoping for a brighter future, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and became its first Youth Leader.

Racism, discrimination and degradation faced by Blacks and other ethnic minorities under the apartheid system was not unlike the segregation and intimidation faced by African-Americans in the Jim Crow south. Jim Crow system of segregation that kept Blacks from fully participating in public and civic activities and relegated African-Americans to substandard conditions at work, school and even in the home. Blacks in South Africa were under the clutches of an overt, national policy of racism and segregation implemented by the country’s highest level of government. Civil and human rights abuses of Blacks in South Africa at the hand of the country’s white minority occurred long before apartheid officially began, but the system’s official start brought strict, sweeping laws such as the rule that all persons in South Africa to be categorized as white, Black, colored and Indian, without exception. Like in the U.S. during Jim Crow, Blacks and whites were not allowed to marry and sexual relations between members of different races was a criminal offense.

Protests, such as Soweto, and boycotts are examples of internal unrest that ultimately led to the end of apartheid. On June 16th, 1976, over 360 blacks were killed by South African police

While the students were protesting the police were ordered to fire and almost half of the students who protested were killed. Because of the incident, the South African government started dismantling Apartheid in 1986. In 1994, the country worked to gradually introduce fairness and equity also they held the first elections in which all South Africans could vote, and Nelson Mandela was elected president. In 1995, Nelson Mandela establishes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help South Africans solved their country’s horrible past and also has managed to move forward.

Black South Africans living in South Africa, had to endure fifty years of oppression and racial discrimination. Apartheid was a policy implemented by the South African government across South Africa. It was used to control the Black South African population since they make up the majority of the population. The government created Apartheid, due to their fear that the Black population will overthrow them. Living as a Black South African meant that they had to live a more oppressive and undesirable life.

Beginning early in the 1970s and extending into the ‘80s, students, laborers and ordinary citizens became more involved in the struggle against Apartheid. High school students began protesting the segregated system more vigorously, and many ended up dead at the hands of National Party police forces in the June uprising of 1976. The late 70’s and 80’s saw the rise in dissidence amongst ordinary South Africans towards the Apartheid laws. After the student uprising of 1976, the ranks of MK were augmented considerably, leading to resurgence in anti-Apartheid activities and ushered in the first reforms to the Apartheid since its

Apartheid originated as colonization came to an end in South Africa, in the hope of entirely segregating the nation. Under Apartheid, the rights of the majority black inhabitants were curtailed and the white minority rule was strengthened and put into action. Enforced through legislation by the National Party from 1948 to 1994, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighborhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history (Evans). The purpose of Apartheid was not only the separation of the races, but the separation of groups. White domination wanted to maintain power and did so through the enforcement of racist laws involving unequal social order (Apartheid). Apartheid forced South Africans into

The avowal that the apartheid ‘vision for democracy’ necessitated state terror and repression is evident when examining the South African apartheid system between 1960 -1994. The system of apartheid spiked significant internal resistance, hence, the ideology for apartheid stems from the creation of a white state surrounded by economically interdependent and politically dependent black states, which required state terror and repression to ensure mounting resistance and international condemnation did not abolish the apartheid system. The government responded to a series of popular uprisings and protests with police brutality, which increased support for armed resistance. Detentions were set without trial, torture, censorship and the outlawing of political oppositional organizations such as The African National Congress, the Black Conscious Movement, the Azanian Peoples Organisation, The Pan Africanist Congress and the United Democratic Front, were all a result of the apartheid government due to political resistance.

South African Apartheid was the government enforced policy of extreme segregation and discrimination which lasted from 1948 to 1991; this affected both Black and Asian citizens of South Africa and deprived them of their basic human rights. Before Apartheid, South Africa already had conditions that were comparable to segregation in the United States: there were laws restricting voting, buying land, and jobs. The National Party in South Africa is the all-white government party that gained power through white supremacy and white nationalism, and they believed that they had a God-given right to control Africa. The implementation of Apartheid by the government of South Africa was a disastrous decision that negatively affected non-European citizens

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.

South Africa really began to suffer when apartheid was written into the law. Apartheid was first introduced in the 1948 election that the Afrikaner National Party won. The plan was to take the already existing segregation and expand it (Wright, 60). Apartheid was a system that segregated South Africa’s population racially and considered non-whites inferior (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid was designed to make it

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

The population of South Africa were segregated into categouries of Coloured, Black, White and Indian. Black South African lives were affected in many different ways and it still is today. Apartheid meant great hardship, it meant that Black people were unable to live a reasonable life. All natural civil rights were taken away from them. Public beaches, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks and public toilets are just a few things that were racially segregated. You can say that the church was on of few places races could mix without breaking the law. (Wikipedia, 2013)

The Apartheid regime and term ‘apartheid’ in South Africa was introduced in 1948 as a part of Daniel Francois Malan’s election campaign. The apartheid system was a type of racial segregation introduced in South Africa in 1948, resulting in the majority of Blacks in South Africa being refused basic human rights, whilst whites were living in a time of ‘white supremacy’. It included laws such as the Population Registration Act 1950, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act 1953, and the Immorality Act 1950. These laws severely limited the rights of blacks. The apartheid system forcefully suppressed any resistance, such as at Sharpeville on March 21 1960, when 69 blacks were killed, and the Soweto Riots 1976-77, when 576 people died. This abuse towards people of colour in South Africa made people around the world want to protest against South Africa’s government. However, the New Zealand government did not take serious action against South Africa. The National government had a protocol of ‘bridge-building’, which sustained ties with South Africa. They allowed sporting contact, such as a Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1960. This led to protest in 1981 because the government’s lack of action against the abuse caused by the apartheid system made people want to protest

During the Apartheid era, teachers had to under went changes within the education systems and teaching methods. As the National party introduce the idea of the Bantu Education act of 1953. This act would in its basic forms classify each race into their own future careers. The non-white or black students would have all their classes taught in Afrikaans. This new form of segregation also enforced segregation within schools. This act did not only impact the students but as well as the black teacher’s as the government had the power to decrease their salaries. In the year of 1953 a dramatic drop of teacher trainees as the amount of black teachers to started to decrease. The government also started taking the funds from non-white schools and placed