What is Apartheid?
- Written By: S.E. Smith
- Edited By: Bronwyn Harris
- Last Modified Date: 17 February 2013
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Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
Apartheid was a system of legal racial separation which dominated the Republic of South Africa from 1948 until 1993, However, the mechanisms of apartheid were set in place long before 1948, and South Africa continues to deal with the repercussions. Under apartheid, various races were separated into different regions, and discrimination against people of color was not only acceptable, but legally entrenched, with whites having priority housing, jobs, education, and political power. Although South Africa was heavily criticized for the system, it was not until 1991 that the legal system of apartheid began to be broken down, and in 1993 was thrown out altogether with the election of Nelson Mandela, the first black democratically elected President of South Africa. The term is also used more generally around the world to refer to systemic racism which is tolerated, rather than confronted.
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning “apart” or “separate,” and one of the first pieces of apartheid legislation was the Group Areas Act of 1950, which segregated living spaces, concentrating whites in the cities and forcing people of color into rural areas or the urban fringes. In addition to separating whites from nonwhites, apartheid also separated different races, and fraternization between Africans of different tribes, Asians, and Europeans was frowned upon. Whites and nonwhites held different jobs, lived in different regions, and were subject to different levels of pay, education, and health care. Apartheid paid no attention to former social or residential status, dividing people up by color.
When nonwhites were pushed out of the urban areas, most of them were shuffled into Bantustans, or “African homelands.” Because they were made citizens of the Bantustans, black South Africans were not allowed to participate in the government of South Africa, and were forced to carry passes and obey curfew laws if they wanted to travel outside of their homelands. The homelands were also established on land which was largely unusable, and were heavily reliant on South Africa for assistance. Along the fringes of the cities, Africans lived in massive, terrible slums, often separated from their families because only one family member could get a permit to live in the city.
Nelson Mandela, along with many others, is a member of the African National Congress, a group which worked to abolish apartheid. He joined right before the Second World War, and was part of a major push to make the African National Congress a national movement, incorporating ethics of nonviolent resistance, strikes, and mass civil disobedience to fight for equal rights. In 1952, he was tried in court for participating in the Campaign of Just Defiance, and given a suspended sentence. He spent time in and out of prison throughout the 1950s and became an attorney to help blacks who had been dispossessed under apartheid.
In 1960, the African National Congress was banned, and Mandela was one of the founding members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, a violent civil rights organization. His membership was shortlived, however; in 1962, after traveling out of the country to speak about the situation in South Africa and receive military training, Mandela was imprisoned for life, and not released until 1990. The African National Congress was reformed in 1991, as apartheid began to be dismantled, and Mandela was elected President of the organization, going on to take office as President of South Africa in 1994, serving through 1999. In 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.
Discuss this Article
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anon282932
Post 170 |
This is exactly what we should know. There is no future without history. This is better than reading a book.
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anon269495
Post 169 |
Do any of you actually live in South Africa? Mandela was actually a terrorist who bombed buildings and encouraged violence. There were a lot of black people killed in his so-called peaceful demonstrations. Do you know that during his time in prison, the white president went to him with an offer to be set free if Mandela agreed to stop the violence. Mandela never agreed to stop. |
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anon264191
Post 167 |
For all the people commenting about where the word 'Apartheid' originated from, you're missing the point. This isn't about the 'Dutch' or the 'English' people. It's sbout South Africa. |
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anon248919
Post 165 |
I think apartheid is stupid! Why should people be judged by their colour of their skin? People should be judged for who they are inside. I would like to see anyone disagree with me. |
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anon214941
Post 163 |
I love your web site and I want to learn about South Africa. My main interest is in Kenya and the Asolo tribe, because this where my husband is from. |
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anon208119
Post 161 |
The world should be celebrating apartheid. Although the was much suffering to get to where we are, there must be labor pains for any birth, and the birth of freedom is not exempt. However, it is a birth that should be remembered, therefore requiring much pre-birth agony. |
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anon195959
Post 160 |
This site is very simple, straightforward and educational. Great job! Cheers. |
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anon183694
Post 158 |
@157: You are right that it isn't afrikaans, but it isn't dutch ether. it is partly english and partly dutch. |
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anon182062
Post 157 |
I don't intend to be rude or something, but the word 'apartheid' isn't created by Africans. It was created by the Dutch. |
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anon177863
Post 155 |
What was africa like after this even took place? |
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anon177177
Post 154 |
what happened when it ended? |
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anon166338
Post 145 |
This really helped me with my literature essay on Nelson Mandela! |
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anon157945
Post 138 |
For whoever was asking about how many people were white at the time of Aparthied, compared to who was not: There were: 4.8 million white people; 24 million black people; 0.9 million of Asian origin; 2.8 million of mixed race. These are actual numbers, found in the book "South Africa Since 1948" written by Jean Hayward and published in 1989 Wayland (publishers) Ltd. Hope I could help! |
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anon156192
Post 137 |
thanks this really helped with my english homework. |
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anon125569
Post 123 |
this is totally the best site i have found. it is awesome and no they didn't spell afrikaan wrong. it is the way the natives are spelled. |
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anon118283
Post 120 |
Thanks man. this really helped in my history class. By the way, Nelson Mandela is awesome. |
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anon112782
Post 119 |
this site is pretty useful! thanks. |
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anon111255
Post 118 |
to all people who said this is horrible, shame on you all. this is very useful for people who either didn't know about apartheid or have to get information on it.
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anon109602
Post 116 |
Thank you so much. this is helping a lot with my social studies homework. |
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anon107036
Post 115 |
Thank you oh anonymous person. you are indeed wise. it really helped me. i would advise everyone to come on this website. Thanks! |
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anon92557
Post 112 |
Why was apartheid introduced? What was the reasoning behind separating every race into its own area? |
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anon90894
Post 110 |
short and sweet. very helpful. thanks |
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anon90619
Post 108 |
Helping me with my school work! really good! |
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anon90560
Post 107 |
thank you mystery person who wrote this. I'm going to pass my final, now, hopefully. it was very straightforward. i liked how i didn't have to read so much to get the point. |
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anon87570
Post 99 |
dude you seriously spelt african wrong. you spelt it like afrikan. Moderator's reply: "Afrikaans" is the correct spelling when referring to one of the languages spoken in South Africa. "Afrikaans" is a Dutch spelling. Not all words are spelled the same way in every language. |
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anon84851
Post 96 |
It started in 1948 and ended in 1994. A year before my birthday! |
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anon81939
Post 91 |
Thanks so much; this really helped me with my english work. I hope someone else will soon laugh at this! |
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anon81556
Post 90 |
Thanks. It was very fascinating and I learned something new! |
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anon81262
Post 88 |
horrible |
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anon79371
Post 87 |
This helped me so much with my school project. thanks. |
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anon78416
Post 86 |
good site. got heaps of info. |
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anon77433
Post 84 |
wow there's so much to learn about south africa. |
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anon69367
Post 80 |
good site. |
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anon69170
Post 79 |
this is very good. I found a lot here. thanks. |
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anon68860
Post 78 |
Wow. What a great website this helped me a lot on my south africa project! Great facts and information on apartheid and poverty! |
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anon68519
Post 76 |
wow. awesome facts straight up. Many sites neglect to include basic details. Definitely contributing to my assignment work. Who made this site? It's great, I want more. |
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anon67862
Post 74 |
this helped me with my homework. |
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anon67355
Post 73 |
Thank you so much. You really helped me with my homework. I got some great facts,and this page really helped and was great. Thanks! |
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anon64890
Post 67 |
thanks a lot. |
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anon64550
Post 66 |
thank you! this helped loads with my RE homework. |
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anon64434
Post 65 |
thanks. this helped a lot with my social studies work. Just one question: How did apartheid start? Maybe i skipped over it but i couldn't seem to find the answer. Thanks again. ps. I love this site so much! |
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anon64043
Post 64 |
thank you for helping me on my black history project to find out about apartheid because my mother would not tell me what is was. Thank you a lot. |
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anon63963
Post 63 |
Thank you. It really helped with my geography homework. I didn't know what was going on most of the time! |
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anon62986
Post 62 |
this site would help a lot of South African children and it helped me in my homework. |
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anon62227
Post 61 |
this helped me a lot. thanks.
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anon62210
Post 60 |
this helped me with work. |
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anon61258
Post 57 |
This helped me a lot in my homework. thanks. |
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anon60656
Post 56 |
thank you. this helped me with my english work. :) |
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anon58744
Post 53 |
this is good |
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anon58642
Post 50 |
thank god, that helped me. but how are things now? |
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anon58608
Post 49 |
Cheers! this help loads with my geography work! |
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anon55275
Post 48 |
Thanks so much! This really helped me with my Social Studies project. |
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anon55217
Post 47 |
It is an extraordinary web site and it helped me to complete my English assignment. Thanks a lot. |
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anon54994
Post 46 |
thank you very much! this help me complete my research for my english class and this subject really is interesting. please continue on with this site. ~Anonymous xD~ |
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anon54409
Post 45 |
how has apartheid affected women in africa? |
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anon52896
Post 41 |
thanks so much |
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anon52149
Post 40 |
thanks this helped alot in school! |
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anon51804
Post 39 |
thanks. This helped me a lot on my homework :) |
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anon50951
Post 38 |
thanks. helped me with my course work :) |
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anon50938
Post 34 |
i love this website. it really helped me. thanks |
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anon50884
Post 29 |
thanks. helped a lot on my project. |
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anon49854
Post 24 |
This really helped on my history project. now I can please my history teacher. |
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anon49603
Post 23 |
Thanks! I really needed this so I could please my history teacher. :D |
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anon49530
Post 22 |
thank you. i'm doing a power point on this. |
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anon49525
Post 21 |
thanks a lot! |
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anon49484
Post 20 |
Thanks! This helped me a lot on my homework! |
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anon47468
Post 18 |
i'm doing a project on this in school and this info helped a lot. |
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anon47382
Post 17 |
besides the heartbreaking injustices, it's a real pity to see a beautiful, diverse and rich continent like africa being torn apart by war, disease and poverty. |
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anon47369
Post 16 |
thanks a lot. this really helped. |
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anon43125
Post 15 |
why was the apartheid introduced? |
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anon32812
Post 11 |
I'd love to hear peoples opinion of apartheid and discrimination in South Africa. Thanks. |
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anon28860
Post 10 |
Why did this happen? |
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anon26947
Post 9 |
How much of the population was white and how much was not, at the time? |
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anon16534
Post 7 |
Isn't it ironic now, if we look back at the achievements of that National Party, how it dwarfs that the ANC... sure their human rights record was bad. But their economic and technological achievements...of 4 million people... phenomenal. |
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anon8138
Post 2 |
Who were the drivers behind the movement? It wasn't just the "Nationalist Party," it was certain specific people who had specific roles. |
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anon8072
Post 1 |
What are measures to deal with apartheid? |
