Apartheid

Apartheid
A policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race is also known as apartheid. The apartheid that has been going on in South Africa since the late 1600s and early 1700s when the Dutch and British there and became a dominant white minority. In fact, even today whites are still a major minority. The apartheid as bad until 1950 when the ruling of Afrikaners began passing laws forcing blacks and people of mixed races and background to live and work in segregated areas. They were also not allowed the right of owning lands in other areas. Anyone that wasn’t white became a prisoner with no rights. Colored people could not be part of the government, socialize with whites, or travel outside their restricted are without government consent. The apartheid affected the population of South Africa in many ways.
A colored man’s life in South Africa was vastly different from a white man’s life. The nonwhites of South Africa received a lesser education compared to the whites. They were only taught enough to complete basic labor in factories owned by whites. All blacks had to carry a “pass book”, a book where their movements were recorded. A black person could be arrested for bringing whites into their home without government approval. The government basically controlled every little part of a black man’s life. Secret police spied on black activists. Arrests, murders, and beating could happen to a black activist.
Things started to become extremely oppressive under the apartheid and nonwhites struggled against the government. The government had ordered schools to teach classes in Afrikaans, the Dutch-based language of the whites in South Africa, rather than in English, thousands of people began to protest. On June 16, 1976, Antoinette Sithole led thousands of students on the streets of Soeto, a ghetto where the blacks lived. A while after the protest began, police started to fire shots into the angry crowd, killing 23 students. The students then fled in panic. After news of these deaths spread throughout South Africa, the country began a state of rioting. The months after the shooting, when the riots really started to begin, became known as the Soweto uprising, which took approximately 600 lives.
The apartheid finally ceased in 1991. South Africa made a major transition to majority rule. Some black groups have a little skirmish following the arrival of democracy, but nothing major. South Africa now lives in union as one county where everyone has equal rights. The apartheid of South Africa lasted a total of 41 years, but will leave an effect on the population of South Africa for all eternity.

Word Count: 438

Works Cited
Rise to Glory: Kingdoms of the South http://library.thinkquest.org/C002739/AfricaSite/LMSouthaffects.htm The History of the Apartheid in South Africa http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html 1991: The End of the Apartheid http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article=f010906_apartheid

Cited: Rise to Glory: Kingdoms of the South http://library.thinkquest.org/C002739/AfricaSite/LMSouthaffects.htm The History of the Apartheid in South Africa http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html 1991: The End of the Apartheid http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article=f010906_apartheid