Apartheid in South Africa: A History of Racial Segregation and Resistance
Top of the World War: The beginning was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by a Serbian student in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). In response, Austria declared war on Serbia, triggering a chain reaction as their allies (those in the Triple Alliance and Entente) joined the conflict. The murder occurred on June 28, 1914, and the war began on July 28, 1914. The United States intervened in 1917 after Germany sank the Lusitania, a passenger ship.
Apartheid: This system of racial segregation in South Africa was established by British settlers in the 20th century as a symbol of a succession of political, economic, social, and racial discrimination. The word “apartheid” means “separateness” in Afrikaans, a Germanic language derived from Dutch Creole, spoken mainly in South Africa and Namibia. This system essentially involved the division of different racial groups to promote “development.” The white race led this movement, introducing various laws covering social aspects. It resulted in a racial classification based on appearance, social acceptance, or descent. This new system sparked revolutions and resistance from the country’s black citizens.
The apartheid system was a series of racist acts practiced in South Africa for many years, but it wasn’t until 1948 that it gained legal form through laws enacted for that purpose. In the 1947 elections, the radical Nationalist Party won in a coalition with the Afrikaners, led by pastor Daniel François Malan. Through a perversion of the electoral law, the Nationalist Party gained a majority despite winning fewer votes than its rival, the United Party, in 1953. Shortly after winning, the government began segregating individuals based on race. A law passed in 1950 reserved certain districts in cities for white ownership only, forcing non-whites to relocate. Segregated areas were established for beaches, buses, hospitals, schools, and even public park benches. Blacks were required to carry identity documents at all times and were forbidden from staying or entering certain cities without permission.
States for Blacks and Similarities: Apartheid advocates argued that discrimination against blacks was legal because they were not South African citizens but citizens of other independent states (known as Bantustans), created to accommodate black people. Ten states were created for self-governing black populations, who constituted 80% of the total population. South African citizenship was revoked for these populations, and they were considered transient or temporary residents, provided with passports instead of passes. During the 1960s and 1980s, the government forcibly relocated black people to these designated states. A total of 3.5 million people were forced to move. The most publicized case was in Johannesburg, where 60,000 black residents were relocated to an area known as Soweto. Another case involved Sophiatown, a “multiracial” area where blacks were allowed to own land. However, population expansion and industrial development in Johannesburg made this area strategically important. In February 1955, the 50,000 black residents were forcibly evacuated and relocated to an area called Meadowlands, now part of Soweto. Sophiatown was destroyed by bulldozers, and a new development called Triomf was built for the white population.
Whites, Blacks, Indians, and Mestizos: The population was classified into four groups. The “Coloured” (in Afrikaans “kleurling”) were mixed-race people of mixed Bantu and Khoisan ancestry with European descent. Determining who was classified as a mestizo was sometimes difficult, with officials even examining people’s gums to distinguish between blacks and mestizos. The mestizos were also discriminated against and forced to relocate to designated areas, sometimes abandoning their homes and lands that had belonged to their families for generations. While the Coloured received better treatment than blacks, they played a leading role in the fight against apartheid. Their right to vote was denied, just like blacks. In 1983, an amendment to the Constitution allowed the Coloured and Indians (from India and Pakistan) to participate in elections to form a separate Coloured parliament, subservient to the white parliament. The theory of apartheid was that the Coloured were citizens of South Africa with limited rights, while blacks were citizens of one of the ten independent states created for them. Occasionally, brothers descended from parents of different races were separated based on their skin color.