The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation.
By , the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between black and white South Africans. The Population Registration Act of provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu black Africans , Coloured mixed race and white.
A fourth category, Asian meaning Indian and Pakistani was later added. In some cases, the legislation split families; parents could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.
In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government. Separating black South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no black majority and reduced the possibility that blacks would unify into one nationalist organization.
From to , more than 3. Resistance to apartheid within South Africa took many forms over the years, from non-violent demonstrations, protests and strikes to political action and eventually to armed resistance. Together with the South Indian National Congress, the ANC organized a mass meeting in , during which attendees burned their pass books. The group had arrived at the police station without passes, inviting arrest as an act of resistance. At least 67 blacks were killed and more than wounded.
Sharpesville convinced many anti-apartheid leaders that they could not achieve their objectives by peaceful means, and both the PAC and ANC established military wings, neither of which ever posed a serious military threat to the state. By , most resistance leaders had been captured and sentenced to long prison terms or executed.
In , when thousands of black children in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg, demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for black African students, the police opened fire with tear gas and bullets. The protests and government crackdowns that followed, combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa and shattered all illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation.
In , the United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country. Under pressure from the international community, the National Party government of Pieter Botha sought to institute some reforms, including abolition of the pass laws and the ban on interracial sex and marriage.
As early as , Dutch colonizers began establishing laws and regulations that separated white settlers and native Africans. These laws and regulations continued after the British occupation in , and soon led to the channeling of Africans into specific areas that would later constitute their so-called homelands. By , the year that all of the formerly separate Boer Republics united with the British colony to become the Union of South Africa, there were nearly reserves for natives throughout the country.
By , Dr. Malan, the prime architect of apartheid, led the National Party in the first campaign that centered on openly racist appeals to white unity. The Party promised that if elected it would make permanent these reserves under the joint fundamental principles of separation and trusteeship. One of the first acts passed was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, in , which outlawed marriage between Europeans and non-Europeans.
The following year new legislation banned sexual intercourse between Europeans and non-Europeans. This Act caused much hardship and resentment. People lost their homes, were moved off land they had owned for many years and were moved to undeveloped areas far away from their place of work. Resistance to apartheid came from all circles, and not only, as is often presumed, from those who suffered the negative effects of discrimination.
Criticism also came from other countries, and some of these gave support to the South African freedom movements. There were also Indian and Coloured organized resistance movements e. We shall consider the ANC. It was started as a movement for the Black elite, that is those Blacks who were educated.
In , the ANC sent a deputation to London to plead for a new deal for South African blacks, but there was no change to their position. The history of resistance by the ANC goes through three phases. The first was dialogue and petition; the second direct opposition and the last the period of exiled armed struggle. In , just after apartheid was introduced, the ANC started on a more militant path, with the Youth League playing a more important role.
The ANC introduced their Programme of Action in , supporting strike action, protests and other forms of non-violent resistance. This campaign called on people to purposefully break apartheid laws and offer themselves for arrest. It was hoped that the increase in prisoners would cause the system to collapse and get international support for the ANC. Black people got onto 'white buses', used 'white toilets', entered into 'white areas' and refused to use passes.
Despite 8 people ending up in jail, the ANC caused no threat to the apartheid regime. The ANC continued along the same path during the rest of the s, until in some members broke away and formed the PAC. These members wanted to follow a more violent and militant route, and felt that success could not be reached through the ANC's method.
Background and policy of apartheid Before we can look at the history of the apartheid period it is necessary to understand what apartheid was and how it affected people. What was apartheid? Original architects of Apartheid Image source Apartheid Laws Numerous laws were passed in the creation of the apartheid state.
Here are a few of the pillars on which it rested: Population Registration Act, This Act demanded that people be registered according to their racial group.
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