Apartheid- rigid separation of races

Forced Segregation In 1910, Britain granted S. Africa self rule Until 1994, a small white minority led the government whites make up 16% of S. Africas population, 70% black, 11% mixed, 3% AsianIn 1948, Nationalist party came to power, made up of conservative white farmers with strong white supremacist views

They set up strict legal system of apartheid (rigid separation of races)Under apartheid, the govt classified all S. Africa as white, black, COLOURED (people of mixed race), or Asian It passed laws to keep races separate

Nonwhites could not vote, and were restricted to where they could live and work Black ethnic groups were assigned to live in homelands, which were located in dry, infertile areas 4/5ths of S. Africas fertile parts remained in white hands Some blacks were allowed to live outside the homelands because the govt needed workers

Pass laws required all black S. Africans living in a town or city to carry a passbook Passbook included a record of where they could travel or work, their tax payments, and a record of any criminal convictions, it had to be carried at all times

Pass laws divided families, husbands and wives could not live together if both did not have passes to the city Black were forbidden to: Ride on white buses Swim at white beachesEat at white restaurantsEducation limited, causing many blacks to be illiterate/ no education

Struggle Against ApartheidNon-violent resistance always presentGovt banned opposition groups, like African National CongressBlack leaders went into hidingNelson Mandela caught in 1964 and sentenced to life in prison

Women and students involved in struggleInternational pressure grew and groups began to boycott S. AfricaUnited Nations place an arms embargo on S. AfricaDuring 1980s, U.S. and other nations imposed economic sanctions (cut off trade in many items and ended financial dealings with businesses in S. Africa)

Children of Soweto, a Black township some ten miles away from Johannesburg, in 1982. The Zulu world "Amandla" scrawled on the wall means "Power". This has been adopted as a rallying call in the struggle for Black rights. (UN Photo# 151670)

Steps toward changeProtests and economic sanctions had an effectThey slowed S. African economy, causing white business leaders to press the govt for changeMid-1980s S. Africa repealed the pass laws and opened some segregated facilitiesIn 1989- President F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and other opposition groups

1990- Nelson Mandela freed from prisonEarly 1990s- de Klerks govt slowly moved to end white minority rule1994- elections held to create a coalition govt (Blacks could vote for the first time)Mandela was swept into officeCreated govt based on justice for allWhite extremists still opposed the new constitutionEthnic and political tensions at times flared into violenceToday, S. Africa on verge of a peaceful nationMandela and de Klerk accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993Mandela casting his ballot in the 1994 elections

Newly-elected President Nelson Mandela addressing the crowd from a balcony of the Town Hall in Pretoria, South Africa on May 10, 1994 . (UN Photo# 186835 by C. Sattleberger)