How and why did the apartheid system come into existence in South Africa and how was its existence maintained and enforced for so long?

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.

Apartheid was a set of racial laws that segregated the various race groups of South Africa. It came into power along with the National Party came into power in 1948. The government was ruled by all white members and they enforced racial segregation policies that served to benefit whites and put down other races. Some laws included not allowing certain races to live or even enter certain areas, known as pass laws. Another law prohibited whites and blacks from being together romantically. Even when Blacks got to work in some of the same field of jobs as whites, they were forced into black specific groups. Apartheid split the population into four groups. White being the most privileged and getting the most benefits; whites held the most control.

The Apartheid was initiated as a ploy for Europeans to better control the exploited populations for economic gain, as maintaining tension between the different racial classifications diverted attention from the Europeans as it fed hatred between groups. This assisted in minimizing unity between the exploited to rally against European control as it backhandedly induced “submission” for survival. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws that’d force segregation, classification, educational “requirements”, and economic purposes. The Population Registration Act of 1950 enacted, requiring segregation of Europeans from Afrikaans . Following shortly, the Group Areas Act of 1950 was enacted as a new form of legislation alongside the Population Registration Act. This detailed act separated tribes based on ethnics; consequently, further detailing segregation amongst the natives .

In both countries, the schism between Africans and their government worsened. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery, “blacks . . . had more in common with African-American slaves . . . than with the [Caucasian businessmen,]” due to the Jim Crow Laws – which established a hierarchy based on “the plantation mentality” (Bausum 2012, 14,19). Similarly in South Africa, the National Party made apartheid the official law in 1948. In other words, both forms of segregation: isolated races (ex. through outlawing intermarriage and integration), trapped coloured people in the cycle of poverty and ensured that only coloured people were deprived of quality education, health care, and other government services . In addition, only African-Americans were garbage men who received an insufficient salary that “was based on their garbage routes” rather than an hourly wage (Bausum 2012, 14). Similarly, black South

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.

The South African Apartheid, instituted in 1948 by the country’s Afrikaner National Party, was legalized segregation on the basis of race, and is a system comparable to the segregation of African Americans in the United States. Non-whites - including blacks, Indians, and people of color in general- were prohibited from engaging in any activities specific to whites and prohibited from engaging in interracial marriages, receiving higher education, and obtaining certain jobs. The National Party’s classification of “race” was loosely based on physical appearance and lineage. White individuals were superficially defined as being “obviously white'' on the basis of their “habits, education and speech as well as deportment and demeanor”; an

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

After the National Party gained power in South Africa, it's all white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities, and contact between the two groups would be limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years. The government of President F.W. de Klerk began to repeal most of the legislation that provided the basis for

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.

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be considered inferior because of your race? The people of South Africa had to endure racial inferiority during the era of apartheid. The apartheid laws the government of South Africa made led to an unequal lifestyle for the blacks and produced opposition.

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

From the distinction and separation by skin color in white, black and colored in the cities, comes the literal meaning of the term apartheid, which was initially named after the word meaning nothing more than separation; from the Dutch: separately (apart) and district (heid). The word was originally only the Afrikaans translation of the English word "segregation", which was previously used for the existing practices in South Africa. The Afrikaner nationalists took this translation and circulated it to underline that they regarded their policy as something new. They developed a whole heap of new explanations and justification patterns for the doctrine of apartheid in order to be held legitimate, but in principle was no more different than any other former colonial racism. Although there was always racial segregation in the colonial period, the system of apartheid promoted new space for social tensions and resistance to rise.

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 word apartheid is defined as "separateness" in the Afrikaans language and is described as the severe racial divisions that were between the governing white minority population and the non-white majority population in South Africa. This system existed from 1948 until it was abolished in 1992. South African apartheid laws classified people according to three major racial groups: white, black Africans, and Coloured. These laws dictated where members of each group could live, what jobs they could pursue, and what type of education they could receive. Furthermore, these laws prohibited most social contact between races, allowed segregated public facilities, and denied any representation of non-whites in the national government. The Group Areas Act directly portrayed the usage of segregated facilities to distant the races of South Africa, more specifically, Cape Town.