The South African Apartheid and Music

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 .

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of these people and Doc 7 showed a 1984 speech to the United Nations Security Council where he addressed the possibility of a new society for all people in South Africa. 1984 was the year P.W. Botha became president and began his police state and South Africa was still yet to see the worst atrocities of the Apartheid struggle. Tutu believed that the only reason the whites in South Africa were cruel to the blacks was because they were scared; they were outnumbered and after the ancestors of the white population had fought against the natives for decades their fear was only reinforced through stories of the barbaric Africans. They were also scared that if given the opportunity the blacks would drive them out of South Africa and out of their land of birth. Tutu suggested a new nation in which all people were equal as they were created in the image of god and where the government was truly democratic. Because Desmond Tutu had lived through the entire period of Apartheid and was a leader of the back christian community in South Africa he would have seen and understood the feelings the people of South Africa had toward Apartheid. He would have also strived to implicate Christian beliefs of equality back into the hearts of the white people and end the use of violence. One year before Desmond Tutu's speech a new political party formed called the United Democratic Front. This party was a non-racial and anti-Apartheid organization which specifically opposed the Tricameral parliament which allowed coloured and asian south Africans minimal representation while the black population was still excluded. The Poster for the United Democratic front shown in Doc 9 gave an image to the blacks in South Africa that

The other major race that suffered during this time was African Americans. They had previously been released from slavery, but now they were facing social injustice. Jim Crow laws, were formed, which created stereotypes about blacks being inferior to the white race once again. White bathrooms, and water fountains were constructed along with separation in schools between the races. African Americans “were denied the most basic freedom that democracy promises”(Alexander) under these laws. Everywhere people went separation was found among the whites, and blacks. By creating these laws the American government set the process for the unity of the races backwards. People did not have the opportunity to unite because they were bound by law to be separated. This era created separation of the races, from the very beginning. The government, and white Americans were only concerned about their well-being, and therefore, separated themselves from anyone, and anything that they felt would harm their success and power.

The efforts of social groups lead to a major social change in the United States, most notably the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of the 1950s and 60s.

someone the right to vote based on race). Both groups led to the demise of reconstruction,

such, abolished slavery. In response to this, the south created the Jim crow laws which

This led to Segregation, Which enforced separation of Blacks and whites. They made the Jim crow laws to enforce the separation. Almost everything was separated, even cemeteries. Even though they knew it was wrong, the courts upheld these laws as legal. An example is the Plessy versus Ferguson case, which Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a white only car.

Which was the idea of separate but equal status for blacks. This made it legal to have white only and black only public schools, public places, restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. This caused more racism in the country which led to more violence and the rebirth of the Klu Klux Klan in

All passenger in any motor transportation shall have separate windows for the white and colored races (Alabama). This posed a great problem for blacks, at any point (while riding the bus) they could be told to move to the back or even worse told to get off. This kind of segregation happened in schools too. “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” Even children had to experience the cruelty shown by other because of their skin

States throughout nation, armed with the Plessy decision, passed Jim Crow laws—laws aimed at separating the races.

Some people found a new source of identity, turning to religion. Some songs have a religious tone to them like “Let the Redemption come”. Pieces started to have double meanings. The piece that struck a chord with me was “My boy, where are you going? Sweetheart, it’s all over”. In one sense it could be saying something about a bad breakup or that two people have been forcefully separated after one is transported away. By grouping so many people from so many backgrounds, cultures, and languages, music was even more so a unifying thing as people united under a local or national song to affirm themselves to their home.

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.

One large problem that occurred because of apartheid and was the cause of many protests was from 1961-1994, 3.5 million colored people and their families were forced out of their homes while their property was sold for very low prices to white farmers. This was just one example of events that were completely unfair to the colored population. Nelson Mandela was the person who stopped these acts from happening. In 1994, Mandela became the country’s first colored president. Instead of trying to make the people who put him into jail for 27 years suffer in consequences, he embraced them and used peace to unite everyone as equals, and not oppressing the people who had oppressed him for most of his life. Apartheid was a very rough time for anyone who lived in South Africa before Nelson Mandela and his peace helped to stop it.

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.

On June 19, 1890 South Africans came into contact with African American music for the first time. This contact came when Orpheus McAdoo’s Virginia Jubilee Singers. Orpheus McAdoo, a graduate of Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia joined five members of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African American a capella group from Fisk University and began to tour places such as Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. When he returned to the U.S., he added four members to the minstrel troupe and in 1890 they found themselves in Cape Town, South Africa. Their tour in Cape Town was extremely successful and they forever left an impact on South African culture in the form of a Carnival that takes place each year. Kaapse Klopse, formerly known as the Coon Carnival takes place on January 2nd each year. Minstrel troupes gather in District 6 and take part in a parade and various competions. Various genres of music are represented in the Kaapse Klopse but one genre has been apart of the festivsal since its early beginnings, South African Jazz.