South Africa

Early South Africa

• 17th century-the Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in South Africa

• 19th century-Gold and diamonds were discovered in the region.

• The British and Dutch fought for control of these valuable resources.

Dutch Settling in South Africa

Early Apartheid• By the early 20th century, the British

military gained control of South Africa. • South Africans were not allowed to vote

under British rule- beginning of apartheid.

• Apartheid means “separateness” in Afrikaans, the language of the descendants of the Dutch settlers known as Afrikaaners.

• Many Europeans grew wealthy and powerful while millions of South Africans suffered.

Apartheid

• It was part of South African law until 1993. Apartheid was a system of legally enforced racial segregation in South Africa between 1948 and 1990.

• During apartheid, South Africans were legally classified by the color of their skin.

• The racial classifications were: white, black, Asian, and colored (mixed race).

• The majority of South Africans were classified as black.

Apartheid • Institutionalized racism stripped

South African blacks of their civil and political rights and instituted segregated education, health care, and all other public services, only providing inferior standards for blacks and other non-Afrikaans.

What is Apartheid?• Means “apart-ness” in

Afrikaans• Definition- a policy of

Segregation and political/economic discrimination against non-Europeans in South Africa

• Apartheid’s roots go as far back as 1652

• It was designed in 1917 by Jan Smuts, the Africaner Prime Minister of South Africa

• It was legalized in 1948.

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Complexities of Apartheid

• Apartheid was more than just race

• Included gender• Strict hierarchy• Only White men

could vote & own property

• Systematic disadvantage

• Afrikaner Men• English Men • Afrikaner Women• English Women• Other Europeans/

honorary Whites• Asians• Coloureds (people

of mixed racial heritage)

• Africans

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Social Grouping• In 1948 (right after the end of WWII), the South

African government grouped people into 3 groups:– Black

• Native Africans– White

• European descendants– Coloured

• Mixed race people and Asians

Apartheid

• Non-whites had separate schools, hospitals, beaches, and libraries; they couldn’t share drinking fountains or restrooms.

• The services and buildings for whites were much better than those for everyone else.

• During apartheid, white people in South Africa lived in conditions that were better than those found anywhere else in Africa.

Apartheid

• They were forced to move to homelands and could not vote.

• Homelands were poor, crowded areas far away from cities.

• Homelands often did not have water or electricity.

• Even though these areas were named “homelands,” most black South Africans had never actually lived there before.

Apartheid Townships

During the Apartheid Era, blacks were evicted from properties that were designated as "white only" and forced to move into townships. Legislation that enabled the Apartheid government to do this included the Group Areas Act.

Typical Homestead

Typical Squatter’s Camp

“Coloured”

Grand Laws of Apartheid

1. THE POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT—grouped every South African into a particular “race” (white, Indian, Coloured, and Black). Only whites could vote. Those lower down on the list had fewer rights.

2. THE MIXED MARRIAGES ACT—made it a crime for any marriage to take place between whites and any other “racial” group. Only 75 marriages between blacks and whites had been recorded before Apartheid began.

3. THE IMMORALITY ACT—made it a crime for any sexual act to be committed between a white person and any other “racial” group. Between 1950-1985, 24,000 people were prosecuted for this crime.

4. THE GROUP AREAS ACT—divided South Africa into different areas where the different “race” groups could live. Of the 3.5 million people who had to leave their homes because of this act, only 2% were white.

5. THE PASS LAWS—made it mandatory for blacks to carry pass books at all times, which allowed them to have permission to be in a white area for a limited amount of time. Without their pass, they were arrested

Human Rights Violation

• South Africa used these 3 categories to give out benefits.

• It officially denied most blacks of decent housing, education, and health facilities.

• How does apartheid compare to segregation in America?

• Why is this considered a human rights violation?

So, what happened?

• Armed movements fought apartheid for the next 45 years.

• International community opposed apartheid too.

• South Africa became isolated from the rest of the world, but apartheid continued on.

• Isolation made life very hard for the people of South Africa.

Life for Africans during Apartheid

• Extreme poverty and unemployment

• Urbanization & Townships• Gangs and Violence

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Sharpeville Uprising

Man with Passbook

Rodden Island Prison

Checking Passbook

Soweto Uprising

Funeral and Protest

Separate Bathroom Facilities

The Struggle Against Apartheid

• Riots• The

Sharpeville Massacre (1960)

• The Rise of the ANC

                                                                      

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The ANC was formed to work for equality in the country of South Africa.

Sharpeville Massacre

The government was outnumbered; 69 black people were killed.

1960-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