Chapter
Before Apartheid
Understand the history of people living and settling in the South African region and explore how racial and ethnic identities created tension in the years leading to apartheid.
Subject
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
9–12Language
English — USPublished
About this Chapter
This first chapter outlines South Africa’s early history, from native groups living in the region to Europeans settling and gradually exercising colonial control over African peoples. This period of colonization helped shape how these groups conceived of their identities as well as how they saw others.
Essential Questions
- How does history impact the way people see themselves and others?
- How much do people control their own identities, and how much are their identities shaped by culture, society, and the political system?
- How do our identities influence the choices that we make and the choices available to us?
Introduction: Before Apartheid
Understand the origins of racial and ethnic division and discrimination in South Africa.
African Identities
South African leader Nelson Mandela shares a transformative memory from his school years that affected his understanding of his identity as a Xhosa and an African.
My Name
Consider the importance of African naming practices in South African poet Magoleng wa Selepe’s poem about the effects of colonialism on African identity.
Indian Identities: Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas K. Gandhi recalls his early participation in nonviolent resistance against discrimination against Indians in South Africa.
Afrikaner Identity
Examine the tension between two white European groups in South Africa, the Afrikaners (formerly Boers) and the English, in Afrikaner politician Francis Reitz’s A Century of Wrong.
Africans Resist White Control
Explore the responses by leaders of the African National Congress to the new Union of South Africa government’s racially motivated Native Lands Act of 1913.
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