In some cases, the legislation split families a parent could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.Ī series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority, and “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas.
The Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu (Black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white.Ī fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. Apartheid Becomes Lawīy 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between Black and white South Africans.
Their goal was not only to separate South Africa’s white minority from its non-white majority, but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide Black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their political power. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election under the slogan “apartheid” (literally “apartness”). 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. After both sides made concessions, they reached agreement in 1993, and would share the Nobel Peace Prize that year for their efforts. de Klerk's government to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the African National Congress (ANC).ĭid you know? ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with President F.W. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing Black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before apartheid began.
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