Social Discrimination

Apartheid in South Africa

• Apartheid: system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa from 1948-1994

• Black South Africans were not allowed to vote, obtain certain jobs, travel freely, or even marry without the permission of the government

• Does this sound familiar?

South Africa

United States

Nelson Mandela & the ANC

• ANC (African National Congress) – group led by Nelson Mandela that fought for the end of apartheid

• Nelson Mandela – leader of the ANC who was imprisoned for 28 years and then became the first President of post-Apartheid South Africa

Caste System in Colonial Latin America

• Based on race – but in practice, other characteristics factored in as well (“money whitens”)• Gracias al sacar

• A person’s caste was noted in the baptismal register and certain low castes were legally prevented from becoming priests, attending university, wearing silk, owning weapons, etc.

Caste System

1. Peninsular (born in Iberia)2. Criollo (Iberian descent born in America)3. Indio (native American)4. Negro (African)

Gray areas?

Las castas. Anonymous, 18th century, oil on canvas, 148x104 cm, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico.

De español y mulata, morisca. Miguel Cabrera, 1763, oil on canvas, 136x105 cm, private collection.

Caste System

• Natives and Africans could move up the ladder• Good: opportunities for advancement• Bad: people, again, are “buying in” to the

social hierarchy of colonialism

• Officially ended with Latin American independence (early 1800s)