Apartheid

Now that you’ve skimmed the article, you should preview the questions you will be answering. These questions will help you get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the article. Keep in mind that when you read the article, it is a good idea to write down any vocab you see in the article that is unfamiliar to you. • What was apartheid? • What were some apartheid laws and policies? • In what ways does the author argue that apartheid was like Jim Crow in the US South? • What did the Freedom Charter call for? • How did the struggle against apartheid get caught up in the Cold War? • What happened in 1976, in Soweto, that was so important? • What kinds of international response did protests like these create? • The end of apartheid was a group effort. What changes in “community” within South Africa helped end apartheid. What actions of global “networks” helped end the racist system? Why is it useful to view this important change through both frames? • This article highlights the communities and networks that resisted apartheid. Can you explain any ways that global and local production and distribution were helpful in ending the system? Back in the 1980s, one issue brought the world together as few had done before. Activists from every corner of the Earth, inspired by the actions of black South Africans, demanded an end to an unjust system known as apartheid. Apartheid is an Afrikaans 1 ^1 1 start superscript, 1, end superscript word meaning "...

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? Translated from the Afrikaans meaning 'apartness', apartheid was the In basic principles, apartheid did not differ that much from the policy of segregation of the South African governments existing before the Afrikaner Nationalist Party came to power in 1948. The main difference is that apartheid made segregation part of the law. Apartheid cruelly and forcibly separated people, and had a fearsome state apparatus to punish those who disagreed. Another reason why apartheid was seen as much worse than segregation, was that apartheid was introduced in a period when other countries were moving away from racist policies. Before World War Two the Western world was not as critical of racial discrimination, and Africa was colonized in this period. The People often wonder why such a policy was introduced and why it had so much support. Various reasons can be given for apartheid, although they are all closely linked. The main reasons lie in ideas of racial superiority and fear. Across the world, racism is influenced by the idea that one race must be superior to another. Such ideas are found in all population groups. The other main reason for apartheid was fear, as in South Africa the white people are in the minority, and many were worried they would lose their jobs, culture and language. This is o...

Martin Luther King believed South Africa was home to “the world’s worst racism ” and drew parallels between struggles against apartheid in South Africa and struggles against “local and state governments committed to ‘white supremacy’” in the southern United States ( Papers 5:401). In a statement delivered at the 1962 American Negro Leadership Conference King declared: “Colonialism and segregation are nearly synonymous … because their common end is economic exploitation, political domination, and the debasing of human personality” (Press release, 28 November 1962). Apartheid (meaning “ apartness” in Afrikaans) was the legal system for racial separation in South Africa from 1948 until 1994. The Popular Registration Act of 1950 classified all South Africans into three categories: bantu (blacks), coloureds (those of mixed race), and white. Later, a fourth category, “Asians,” was added. Throughout the 1950s regulations created separate residency areas, job categories, public facilities, transportation, education, and health systems, with social contact between the races strictly prohibited. The nonviolent resistance of anti-apartheid demonstrators was often met with government brutality, including the massacre of 72 demonstrators in Sharpeville in 1960. King called the massacre “ a tragic and shameful expression of man’s inhumanity to man” and argued that it “ should also serve as a warning signal to the United States where peaceful demonstrations are also being conducted by st...

Nelson Mandela’s Childhood and Education Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, into a royal family of the Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo, where his father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (c. 1880-1928), served as chief. His mother, Nosekeni Fanny, was the third of Mphakanyiswa’s four wives, who together bore him nine daughters and four sons. After the death of his father in 1927, 9-year-old Mandela—then known by his birth name, Rolihlahla—was adopted by Jongintaba Dalindyebo, a high-ranking Thembu regent who began grooming his young ward for a role within the tribal leadership. Did you know? As a sign of respect, many South Africans referred to Nelson Mandela as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name. The first in his family to receive a formal education, Mandela completed his primary studies at a local missionary school. There, a teacher dubbed him Nelson as part of a common practice of giving African students English names. He went on to attend the Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Healdtown, a Methodist secondary school, where he excelled in boxing and track as well as academics. In 1939 Mandela entered the elite University of Fort Hare, the only Western-style higher learning institute for Black South Africans at the time. The following year, he and several other students, including his friend and future business partner Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), were sent home for participating in a boycott against university policies. After learning that his guar...

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Nelson Mandela’s Childhood and Education Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, into a royal family of the Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo, where his father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (c. 1880-1928), served as chief. His mother, Nosekeni Fanny, was the third of Mphakanyiswa’s four wives, who together bore him nine daughters and four sons. After the death of his father in 1927, 9-year-old Mandela—then known by his birth name, Rolihlahla—was adopted by Jongintaba Dalindyebo, a high-ranking Thembu regent who began grooming his young ward for a role within the tribal leadership. Did you know? As a sign of respect, many South Africans referred to Nelson Mandela as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name. The first in his family to receive a formal education, Mandela completed his primary studies at a local missionary school. There, a teacher dubbed him Nelson as part of a common practice of giving African students English names. He went on to attend the Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Healdtown, a Methodist secondary school, where he excelled in boxing and track as well as academics. In 1939 Mandela entered the elite University of Fort Hare, the only Western-style higher learning institute for Black South Africans at the time. The following year, he and several other students, including his friend and future business partner Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), were sent home for participating in a boycott against university policies. After learning that his guar...

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? Translated from the Afrikaans meaning 'apartness', apartheid was the In basic principles, apartheid did not differ that much from the policy of segregation of the South African governments existing before the Afrikaner Nationalist Party came to power in 1948. The main difference is that apartheid made segregation part of the law. Apartheid cruelly and forcibly separated people, and had a fearsome state apparatus to punish those who disagreed. Another reason why apartheid was seen as much worse than segregation, was that apartheid was introduced in a period when other countries were moving away from racist policies. Before World War Two the Western world was not as critical of racial discrimination, and Africa was colonized in this period. The People often wonder why such a policy was introduced and why it had so much support. Various reasons can be given for apartheid, although they are all closely linked. The main reasons lie in ideas of racial superiority and fear. Across the world, racism is influenced by the idea that one race must be superior to another. Such ideas are found in all population groups. The other main reason for apartheid was fear, as in South Africa the white people are in the minority, and many were worried they would lose their jobs, culture and language. This is o...

Now that you’ve skimmed the article, you should preview the questions you will be answering. These questions will help you get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the article. Keep in mind that when you read the article, it is a good idea to write down any vocab you see in the article that is unfamiliar to you. • What was apartheid? • What were some apartheid laws and policies? • In what ways does the author argue that apartheid was like Jim Crow in the US South? • What did the Freedom Charter call for? • How did the struggle against apartheid get caught up in the Cold War? • What happened in 1976, in Soweto, that was so important? • What kinds of international response did protests like these create? • The end of apartheid was a group effort. What changes in “community” within South Africa helped end apartheid. What actions of global “networks” helped end the racist system? Why is it useful to view this important change through both frames? • This article highlights the communities and networks that resisted apartheid. Can you explain any ways that global and local production and distribution were helpful in ending the system? Back in the 1980s, one issue brought the world together as few had done before. Activists from every corner of the Earth, inspired by the actions of black South Africans, demanded an end to an unjust system known as apartheid. Apartheid is an Afrikaans 1 ^1 1 start superscript, 1, end superscript word meaning "...