Setting up apartheid, 1948-54 Flashcards
(19 cards)
What was Apartheid?
It was imposed in the 1948 election and it was what separated between the black and the whites.
“aparthood” or “seperateness”
Apartheid laws
- Law against interacial marriage
- Blacks had their own community and they couldn’t live with whites
- House arrest if you didn’t comply with the governments rules
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949)
Made marriages between people of different races illegal
Population Registration Act (1950)
Defined which race every South African belonged to
Immortality Act (1950)
Made sexual relations between people of different races illegal
Separate Amenities Act (1953)
Legally enforced segregation in public places, such as buses, toilets, beaches etc
Group Areas Act (1950)
Assigned different racial groups to separate residential business areas, forcing blacks to relocate from areas that were designated for whites
Bantu Education Act (1953)
Inferior education system for black children, designed to train them for manual labor rather than academics
Bantu Authorities Act (1951)
Tribal authorities in Black areas, reinforcing segregation
Native Urban Areas Act (1954)
Restricted Black South Africans from living in urban areas unless they lived there, worked there for 10+ years, continuously lived there for 15+ years.
Abolition of Passes Act (1952)
Strengthened pass laws by requiring all Black South Africans over 16 to carry a passbook at all times (it restricted their movement)
Links to the Sharpeville Massacre
Suppression of Communism Act (1950)
Banned the Communist Party and allowed the government to suppress any group opposing apartheid including the ANC
Significant Laws during 1900-1947
1911 Mines and Works Act - reserved skilled jobs for whites
1913 Natives Land Act - restricted black ownership of land
1923 Natives Urban Areas Act - Africans in unskilled jobs must live in townships
1924 Industrial Concillation Act - Denied black trade unions or workers’ rights
1936 Representation of the Natives Act - removed voting rights from those who met the property qualification
The election of 1948
Victory for the Nationalist Party led by Dr Malan
Reasons for Nationalist Victory
- Fear of job losses and whites were scared about their status in peacetime thinking that economic equality would lead to social equality.
- White liked “Apartheid” rather than United Party’s ideology of blacks filling job vacancies
- 15% weighting to the rural than the urban
Origins and nature of apartheid 1954
Malan needed to keep his promise with “Apartheid” so he hired Professor F.R Tomlinson as the Commission of Investigation.
Tomlinson knew that Apartheid would work, but the policies would be expensive.
Pass system
Restricted black movement in ‘white’ resident areas.
Opposition and Resistance of the Nationalist Government
- Oliver Tambo and the ANC didn’t pay much attention till he got spat on by the white youth and then adjusted to reality
Suppression of the Nationalist Government
- Suppression of Communism Act of 1950, which allowed the regime to interpret any opposition as ‘communism’
