The History of Apartheid

“I was made by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscious. Can it be any wonder to anybody that such conditions make a man an outlaw of society?” Nelson Mandela

A Journey of Inequality1651: Dutch settlers arrive in South Africa.

1756: Dutch settlers import slaves from West Africa, Malaysia, and India, establishing the dominance of whites over non-whites1700s: The Dutch farmers, known as Boers, seize land from the natives using shotguns. Natives are forced to work on Boer farms to survive.1810s: British missionaries arrive and criticize the racist practices of the Boers, urging them to treat the Africans more fairly. The Boers refuse because they believe that they are the more superior race.1867:Diamond mining begins in South Africa. Africans are the main labor force, are given the most dangerous jobs, and are kept in fenced barracks.

DUTCH: NATIVES OR INHABITANTS OF THE

NETHERLANDS

BOERS:THE DUTCH FARMERS IN SOUTH

AFRICA

RACE:OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD AS A GROUP

OF PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. WE

ARE ALL PART OF THE HUMAN RACE.

1899-1902: The Boer War is fought between the Boers and the British to see who would rule South Africa. The war was long and bloody. The British were cruel and established 31 concentration camps for Boer women and children and natives. Almost 40,000 people died in these camps.

CONCENTRATION CAMPS:A CAMP WHERE CIVILIANS, ENEMY

ALIENS, POLITICAL PRISONERS, AND SOMETIMES PRISONERS OF WAR ARE

FORCIBLY KEPT UNDER THE HARSHEST CONDITIONS.

Concentration Camps

“Every one of these children who died as a result of the halving of their rations, thereby exerting pressure onto their family still on the battlefield, was purposefully murdered. The system of half rations stands exposed and stark unashamefully as a cold-blooded deed of state policy employed with the purpose of ensuring the surrender of people whom we were not able to defeat on the battlefield.”

-WT Stead, British Journalist

“There were poisonous sulphate of copper, grounded glass, fishhooks, and razor blades in the rations.” –Sara Raal

A Journey of Inequality1908-A constitutional convention is held to establish South African independence from Britain. The all-white government decides that non-whites can vote, but cannot hold office.

1910-The South Africa Act takes away all political rights of Africans in three of the country’s four states.

1912-The African National Congress is formed. The political party aims to organize Africans in the struggle for civil rights.

1913-The Land Act give 7.3% of the country’s land to Africans, who make up 80% of the population. Africans are allowed to be on white land only of they are working for whites

1920s-Blacks are fired from jobs which are given to whites.

1910s-1930s-Africans educated at missionary schools attempt to organize to resist white rule and gain political power. However, few of them are literate, communication is poor, and money is a problem.

CIVIL:RELATED TO THE CIVILIANS OF A

COUNTRY

LITERATE:

ABLE TO READ AND WRITE

Early Protests Against Inequality

Prominent leaders in South Africa protest the treatment of the blacks. Gandhi is the fourth from the left.

A Journey of Inequality1939-Representation of Voters Act weakened the political rights for Africans and allows them to vote only for white representatives.

1946-African mine workers are paid twelve times less than their white counterparts. Over 75,000 Africans go on strike in support of higher wages. Over 1000 workers are injured or killed before police violence forces them to end the strike1948-The Afrikaner Nationalist Party gains control of the government and passed the first of 317 Apartheid laws, separating whites from blacks. 1951-The African National Congress (ANC), a political organization for Africans, encourages peaceful resistance to Apartheid Laws. The government reacts by arresting more people.

1950-1953-Multiple Apartheid laws are passed restricting the movement and rights of blacks and requiring pass books. From 1948-1973, over ten million Africans were arrested because their passes were not in order

APARTHEID:

A POLICY OF SEPARATENESS

AFRIKANER:A EUROPEAN DESCENDANT OF THE

DUTCH IN SOUTH AFRICA

COUNTERPARTS:PEOPLE ON THE SAME LEVEL, DOING

THE SAME WORK

Mine Workers in South Africa

Working conditions were terrible in the mines, with miners earning only a few dollars a day and being forced to be separate from their families

for months or years at a time.

A Journey of Inequality1960-A large group of blacks in the town of Sharpeville refused to carry their passes. 69 people die and 187 are wounded. The African political organizations, the ANC and the Pan-African Congress, are banned.

1962-The United Nations establishes the Special Committee Against Apartheid to support a political process of peaceful change, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

1963-1990-Nelson Mandela, head of the African National Congress is jailed for the third time. He expected the death penalty and so he gave a four hour long speech, saying what he thought would be his last words to the African community. He was sentenced to life in prison, first on Robben Island, doing intense labor. He then spent 27 years in Pollsmoor Prison, where he was placed in solitary confinement.

1970-Resistance to Apartheid increases. The all-black South African Students Organization, under the leadership of Stephen Biko, helps unify students through the Black Consciousness movement.

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS:

ADOPTED ON DECEMBER 10, 1948 BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE

UNITED NATIONS AS GUIDELINES FOR HOW HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD BE TREATED ALL OVER THE WORLD

Nelson Mandela in Prison

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in solitary confinement in this cell.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FozhZHuAcCs

A Journey of Inequality1973-The United Nations passed a resolution condemning Apartheid.

1976-People in Soweto riot and demonstrate against discrimination and instruction in Afrikaans. The police react with gunfire, killing 575 and injuring and arresting thousands. Stephen Biko is beaten and left in jail to die from his injuries. 1980s-People and governments around the world launch an international campaign to boycott South Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Africans who are banned from white-controlled areas ignore the laws and pour into forbidden regions in search of work. Civil disobedience and other protests increase.

Mid 1980s-The United Democratic Front was formed in South Africa, which was led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Reverend Allen Boasek. The organization helped spread the word worldwide about the problem of Apartheid.

AFRIKAANS:A LANGUAGE ADAPTED FROM THE 17TH CENTURY DUTCH SETTLERS OF SOUTH

AFRICA

BOYCOTT:TO ABSTAIN FROM BUYING OR USING

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:

THE REFUSAL TO OBEY CERTAIN LAWS FOR THE PURPOSE OF INLUENCING

GOVERNMENTAL POLICY

United Democratic Front

This organization helped get the word out to the world about apartheid.

A Journey of Inequality

Late 1980s-International pressure forces South Africa to end Apartheid. As a result, some of the segregationist laws are repealed, such as the ones separating whites and non-whites in public places.

1991-1994-South African President F.W. de Klerk repeals the rest of the Apartheid laws and calls for a new constitution. A multiracial transitional government is approved. Nelson Mandela is elected president in 1994.

SEGRAGATIONIST:

ONE WHO BELIEVES THAT RACES SHOULD BE KEPT APART

REPEALED:

TO TAKE BACK OR RECALL

A New Government

Nelson Mandela casts the first vote for the new government of South Africa.