The History of Apartheid in South Africa
South Africa is a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources including fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. The climate is mild, reportedly resembling the San Francisco bay area weather more than anywhere in the world.
South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War. Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the two groups held sway until the 1940's, when the Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority. Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60's, a plan of ``Grand Apartheid'' was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.
With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of ``white-only'' jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). The coloured category included major subgroups of Indians and Asians. Classification into these categories was based on appearance, social acceptance, and descent. For example, a white person was defined as ``in appearance obviously a white person or generally accepted as a white person.'' A person could not be considered white if one of his or her parents were non-white. The determination that a person was ``obviously white'' would take into account ``his habits, education, and speech and deportment and demeanor.'' 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.
I do agree that international opposition to apartheid was one of the factors in bringing it to an end. However I think there are other causes, both long and short term, that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa. People all over the world were shocked to see the violence in events like the Soweto riots and the Sharpeville and Langa shootings. They also saw the events occurring between the South African government and extremist groups like the ANC, which appeared during Verwoerd's apartheid. These events were short-term causes that brought about the end of apartheid, but they had a large effect on international opinion, which was a long-term cause.
Discrimination based on race, gender, class, and culture has been reoccurring since the beginning stages of mankind. Discrimination can derive from several different factors, whether sexual identity, race, gender, social-class as this paper demonstrated. The purpose of the paper was to discuss how discrimination was locked to institutional power between 1600s and 1990s, but even today discrimination is very prevalent and will continue to be, as the criminal justice system and the war on drugs acts as a form of discrimination towards people of color. Discrimination based on race, sexual ideologies and practices, and social class seem to still be very prevalent, while discrimination based on gender seems to have left the publics view.
Source A gives a view on the South African governments control over its people and racial discrimination. It is a biased view and makes the South African government seem cruel and racist. It states that the governments "politics are determined by the colour a persons skin". As this is a statement it gives the impression that it is a fact and by giving this impression it also communicates the idea that the South African government IS racist, rather than the South African government COULD be racist. This comes as no real surprise as the advert has been paid for by the ANC (African National Congress), who are a very anti - South African government organization.
the ban on the ANC, the PAC and the SACP, he announced the release of
South Africa’s racial problems began when the white people came and discovered South Africa with its black population. The white people wanted power because there were many fewer whites than blacks. The only way to achieve that was to change the government around so that only white people had political power. The three terms that were used to describe racial groups under the system of apartheid were European, Native and Coloured.
The Ending of White Minority Rule in South Africa Apartheid was a major historical event, and perhaps the biggest event. in South Africa’s history. Apartheid is a policy of racial segregation, the word meaning ‘separateness’ in Afrikaans. It was introduced in 1948 by the white minority and made sure that the whites were superior in every possible way. However, the whites ruled over.
Nelson Mandela’s role in bringing Apartheid to an end was very. important, however, there were many other factors that contributed to the end of Apartheid. The African National Congress, also known as the ANC, was a major. factor in ending Apartheid. Even when the ANC became illegal in South Africa moved to continue its work against Apartheid.
In 1948, South Africa passed a monumental law that would shape the nation for decades to come. This would be known as apartheid. The apartheid was a racially-motivated law that separated the white South Africans from the black, brown or mixed South African in the country. The word is Afrikaans for "the state of being apart". A literal translation meaning "apart-hood". This meant that everything in South Africa
The strength of a nation is not established by the force of its military, economic standing, or government, but rather how its citizens are regarded. In order to attain strength, a nation must respect the principle of solidarity; the power of one voice. For without a defined sense of unity, a society is likely to crumble. Unfortunately, as seen throughout history, civilization has often made it their mission to seek out the differences in one another instead of accepting them. This fear of the unknown has led to humankind’s most despicable behavior; the separation of individuals due to their physical attributes. “Racism is mans gravest threat to man...the maximum of hatred for a minimum reason -Abraham Heschel .” Not only has racism allowed unproven ideologies to spread, but it has also lead to the disintegration of civilizations. Sadly, such tragic events have been a prevalent part in the history of Africa. Perhaps, one of the most blatant forms of racism occurred in South Africa, during the period of Apartheid. From 1948 to 1994 non-white Africans were subjected to horrific treatment, enforced by the South African National Party. The repulsive forms of racial segregation in South Africa, resulting from race and color, not only oppressed the colored majority group, but also denied them of any rights or human dignity.
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 legal for Europeans to dominate economics and politics (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”).
African American prejudice has been happening all around the world since time began. To fix this, steps have been taken to create a more equal society, such as peaceful protests, books, articles, and public speeches targeted against powerful officials. In South Africa, their government used a system called apartheid or “apartness” which was made in 1948 and abolished in 1994. Apartheid was a former policy where every individual would be classified by race; separate public faculties, interracial marriage banned, unban separation in workspace enforced, no right to vote, and no voice in the government. Journalist Allister Sparks who wrote, ‘The mind of south Africa’ described it as “the most comprehensive system of labor coercion on a racial basis
Apartheid was considered a necessary arrangement in South Africa, as the Afrikaner National Party gained a strong majority political control of the country after the 1940’s and the economic dependence on their fertile natural resources, such as diamond and gold mines and other metals such as platinum. This required intense labor and the white dominant control over the repressed black majority allowed for an
on him or her. Unless it was stamped on their pass, they were not allowed to
The apartheid was a very traumatic time for blacks in South Africa. Apartheid is the act of literally separating the races, whites and non-whites, and in 1948 the apartheid was now legal, and government enforced. The South African police began forcing relocations for black South Africans into tribal lines, which decreased their political influence and created white supremacy. After relocating the black South Africans, this gave whites around eighty percent of the land within South Africa. Jonathan Jansen, and Nick Taylor state “The population is roughly 78 percent black, 10 percent white, 9 percent colored, and l...
Apartheid started in 1948 during the twentieth century. A few years before apartheid began the arrival of blacks began. Their arrival began the “Malan's Herenigde Nasionale Party (Reunited National Party) which was a political party in the 1940’s and was created by Daniel François Malan and J.B.M. Hertzog” (Herenigde Nasionale Party). This national party allowed the South African government to introduce new laws which gave the minority the power to rule over the majority. Even before apartheid was introduced the few black people that were in South Africa were not treated well. Another reason apartheid was started by the African National Congress (ANC) was because the white South Africans were unable to teach the black population new technology to be able to work in the white world according to the white population. So they enforced the law of apartheid so the whites would not have to associate with the blacks at all. This not only was happening in South Africa, it also happened in America ...