A group of women hold signs in demonstration against the pass laws in Cape Town on August 9, 1956, the same day as the massive women’s protest in Pretoria.

Chapter

Early Apartheid: 1948-1970

Learn about the early development of apartheid as the white South African government formed a legal system of racial hierarchy and non-white South Africans resisted these laws.

Published: July 31, 2018

Last Updated: September 20, 2019

Chapter

Language

English — US

Subject

History
Social Studies

Grade

9–12

Democracy & Civic Engagement

Overview

In the 1940s, the South African government formally established apartheid (“apartness”) as a legal system to divide racial groups into a social hierarchy. This chapter examines apartheid’s restrictive policies, its fervent white supporters, and its determined non-white opponents.

How did the white minority use apartheid to promote and protect its political, social, and economic power?
What were the ideas, tactics, and strategies used by those who resisted apartheid?
How did the implementation of apartheid change life for the South African people, and how did they respond?

This chapter is from the Early Apartheid: 1948-1970 section of Confronting Apartheid and includes:

6 readings
Connection Questions

Inside this Chapter

Reading

Study the National Party’s implementation of strict racial laws, the forms of defiance by black South Africans and other minority groups, and the government’s harsh reaction to this defiance.

A group of resisters proudly pose after their release from prison in Durban during the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws, 1952.

Reading

Read the National Party’s 1948 statement in support of apartheid, which justifies separation as a way to preserve the white European race.

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (passed in 1953) led to signs such as the one shown above. The Act prohibited people of different races from using the same public amenities.

Reading

Writer Mtutuzeli Matshoba provides a vivid account of life under apartheid through the story of his friend who was forcibly ejected from his home.

A child walks to school through the barren village of Qunu, South Africa, located just outside of the town of Mthatha.

Reading

Consider the unique experiences of black South African women during apartheid, many of whom were forced to live far away from their husbands on bantustans.

Reading

Examine the 1955 Freedom Charter, established by the ANC and supporting groups, which calls for all races to enjoy equal rights, protections, and benefits under the law.

Reading

Activist Frances Baard details the struggle of black South African women under apartheid and their active participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations, including the multiracial 1956 Women’s March on Pretoria.

Frances Baard (1909–1997) worked as a domestic servant and then a teacher before turning to activism as a result of her experience of oppression and exploitation in South Africa.

Reading

Nelson Mandela describes the ANC and PAC’s shift from non-violent resistance of apartheid to violent sabotage under the militant faction MK in his testimony during the Rivonia Trial.

"A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "

Lesson

Students begin thinking about civic engagement in terms of their own passions and identities as they are introduced to the 10 Questions Framework.

High school students participate in class.

Unit

This unit uses the 10 Questions Framework to explore two examples of youth activism: the 1963 Chicago schools boycott and the present-day movement against gun violence launched by Parkland students.

Facing History and Ourselves Bullying Summit September 29th 2012 in Los Angeles CA

Lesson

Students identify strategies and tools that Parkland students have used to influence Americans to take action to reduce gun violence.

Millbrook High School students demonstrate against gun violence outside their school in Frederick County, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, following a school shooting in which over a dozen people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., one week ago. (Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star via AP)

Lesson

Students create a plan for enacting change on an issue that they are most passionate about using the 10 Questions Framework.

Person holding a sign at a Global climate change strike

Lesson

Students explore the first year of the Delano grape strike, when grape workers in California's San Joaquin Valley went on strike to demand higher wages and better work conditions.

Dolores Huerta and others hold up "Huelga" signs as part of the grape strike.

Mini-Unit

Lessons and resources help you explore the sanitation workers’ strike and other events that brought Dr. King to Memphis in the spring of 1968. This lesson is part of our partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum's MLK50 initiative.

Photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. marching arm in arm with a crowd of men participating in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike.

Lesson

Students learn about education, identity, and activism through an exploration of the East Los Angeles school walkouts, when thousands of students protested unequal educational opportunities for Mexican American students.

John Ortiz, Mexican-American student leader at James A. Garfield High School, addressing assembled students during a walkout.

Lesson

Students establish a safe space for holding sensitive conversations, before introducing the events surrounding Ferguson, by acknowledging people's complicated feelings about race and creating a classroom contract.

Lesson

Students explore the role of social media in Ferguson, apply information verification strategies to social media posts, and develop strategies for becoming critical consumers and sharers of social media.

Peaceful demonstrators gather in Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death.

Lesson

Students evaluate the differences among news accounts about Ferguson, develop strategies for verifying news and information, and understand the challenges facing journalists as they cover complex, fast-moving events.

Unit

Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is designed to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies.

Peaceful protestor speaks to police officer in Ferguson.

Mini-Lesson

This mini-lesson is designed to help guide an initial classroom reflection on the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

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Early Apartheid: 1948-1970