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**The Great Trek 1835**
•This an event where Dutch -speaking settlers decided to move out of the Cape due to their opposition to British policy on freeing slaves in the 1830’s.
•They decided to move inward of South Africa where they could be “free and independent people”.
•This also means that they could continue enslaving native people who are predominantly black.
•This event marks an early sign of their desire of wanting to be apart, in which the word apartheid comes from. -
Native national Congess
•The South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was established to fight for the rights of the Black South Africans.
•In South Africa’s history, black bodies have been discriminated in multiple aspects such as in politics, economic and education.
•It is due to the sentiment that Blacks were former slaves while the people in power are mostly White Colonist of multiple ethnicities such as British and Dutch.
•The SANNC changed their name in 1923 to the African National Congress (ANC). -
ANC Youth League
•The youth league was coined by Nelson Mandela and other ANC members. The idea is to form a youth group in the ANC.
•ANC Youth League was led by young members of the ANC to make forceful demands against the apartheid government.
•The ANC was seen to be a “gentlemen” political party where they tried ‘playing by the rules’ in order to be accepted by the government as a legitimate political party.
•The ANCYL members were responsible in heading the Defiance Campaign as an act of civil disobedience. -
Period: to
South African Apartheid
A timeline, beginning from the creation of the ANC to Mandela's release of a lifetime imprisonment in 1990. -
The beginning of an Apartheid government
•The National Party (NP) took control of the government in 1948. It comprises of White minorities within the South Africa.
•To secure their ruling position, they would not allow Black Africans to hold power.
•Multiple acts such as Group Area Act and Pass laws were used to limit the movement of Blacks so that the NP could maintain power.
•The apartheid government was aware that they needed the natives to work as hard labors and the they did not intend to improve the lives of the native people. -
Mix Mariages Act 1949
•An act created to separate people into racial groups; White, Coloured, Indian and Black.
•The act prohibits marriage or sexual relationship between Whites and other race groups.
•This is a government attempt to pursue separateness through their policies. More info -
Racist Acts over the course of 1950
Group Area Act
Immorality Act
Suppression of Communism Act -
Group Area Act 1950
•This act is an example of the government’s attempt to separate people, especially Blacks from staying in an urban areas.
•They would force people to move out and place them in rural areas.
•This is a hindrance for most people as they had to spend more on their travels to get to the city.
•An example would be people in Sophiatown. People were placed in Meadowlands. Another example would be the placement of people in Mitchel’s plain where there was no modern development happening there. -
Immorality Act 1950
•An extension of a previous ban, which prohibits any sexual relations between Whites and Africans.
•It was extended to become a ban on having sexual relations between whites and non-whites more info -
Suppression of Communism Act 1950
•This is an act that outlawed communism.
•The government defines the act to be any scheme that aims to bring any political, social and economic change by the promotion of disturbance and disorder.
•The act gives the minister of justice to list down any persons or organizations that pose threat to the national security.
•Have the power to ban the organizations and its members for five years.
•Mandela had been convicted under this act and had been banned from public gatherings. -
Defiance Campaign
•The Defiance Campaign was organized by the ANC members and other organizations such as the South African Indian Organization (SAIC)
•The campaign was mobilized by volunteers that were trained prior to their protest so that they would know what to expect once they were captured by the police.
•The campaign began in Johannesburg and began spreading to other major cities such as Durban and Cape Town.
•It was a joint effort where people of diverse groups came and showed their support. -
**Mandela considers Arms Struggle 1953**
•Despite the Defiance Campaign, the Nationalist government proceeded its plan by enforcing the Forced Removal Act.
•Mandela figured that a peaceful campaign might now work against the governments.
A quote in Mandela's address
"I said that the time for passive resistance had ended, that nonviolence was a useless strategy and could never overturn a white minority regime ... violence was the only weapon that would destroy apartheid and we must be prepared, in the near future, to use that weapon" -
Freedom Charter
•People of diverse backgrounds gathered at Kliptown, a colored neighborhood, to express their opposition against the oppressive White government.
•Their aim was to achieve a democratic South Africa where everyone is citizen and has the right to vote for their representative.
Quotes from the Freedom Charter
“The People Shall Govern!”
“All National Groups Shall have Equal Rights!”
“All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!” Freedom Charter -
Women march against Pass Laws 1956
•South African women had to work to support their family.
•Their husbands. at the same time, had to work in the city, and due to expensive cost of living, it is easier for them to stay in the city.
•The women have to find other jobs such as working as a domestic servant in the city.
•The government decided to implement pass laws to limit Black women to travel in an out of the city.
•In response to the pass laws, more than ten thousand women from all parts of the country marched to Pretoria. -
Sharpeville Massacre 1960
•Luthuli had announced that 1960 would be the “Year of the Pass”
•Both the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) decided to organize protests against the Pass Law.
•During the day of the massacre, protestors, led by PAC leaders marched in Sharpeville
•The Shaprville police had to control the crowd and a small fight had happened.
•It was said that a police officer accidentally fired the first shot, which triggered other policemen to shoot.
•At least 69 were killed - most were shot in the back -
BIO: Ruth First
•She was a political journalist
•Her parents were the founders of the South African Communist Party
•She was married to Joe Slovo, who like her, was a communist.
•She had helped to draft the freedom Charter, however, was unable to attend Kliptown due to her solitary confinement charges. -
Ruth First's Imprisonment
•Ruth First was detained under the 90-day clause where she was put under solitary confinement.
•She was regarded as a political prisoner in which she was not allowed to be in contact with other inmates.
•Her book 117 days was a medium that she used to describe her experience being in prison.
•The book tells the difference in treatment a white person gets as opposed to blacks
•Her daughter, later, made a movie called A Worlds Apart about how difficult it was to be a child of a political activist. -
Rivonia Trial 1963
•17 ANC leaders were put in trial for treason.
•Mandela and Sisulu were sent to prison for life.
•They were also the leaders of the militant wing of the ANC, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), where they have been resisting the government.
•Their imprisonment was mainly the government’s attempt to crush any resistance. -
**Mandela's Imprisonment 1964**
•Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.
•From his autobiography, it could be seen that despite being prison, Mandela was still able to deal with people with reason.
•He talked to prison guards and warders with respect but at the same time was very diplomatic.
•He made sure that they kept him up-to-date with recent news he •He read the BBC news while in prison.
•He knows that he would be in prison for quite some time, so he made sure that he turned prison into a place that was habitable. -
Hendrik Verwoerd
•Verwoerd was killed in this day
•He was Minister of Native Affairs and later became the president of South Africa
•He was regarded as the architect of apartheid.
•He was stabbed to death by Dmitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary messenger. -
BIO: Steve Biko
•He fought for the idea of Black Consciousness
•Defined “blacks” as including people from all racial groups denied basic civil rights
•He stressed that black should free themselves from the idea of being inferior.
•Instead they should be proud of their identity and fight for it to be recognized.
•He was not a militant and yet the apartheid government was so threatened by him. -
Steve Biko - I write what I like
•He talked about how white liberals in NUSAS are fighting for the blacks whereas their effort was not entirely full fledged.
•These liberals craved for integration with Blacks, but Biko argued that their effort was just to provide a “vague satisfaction for the guilty-stricken whites”.
•This explain why he decided to take the matter to his hand.
•He forms his own organization called South African Student’s Organization where black people were not just mere trophy in a white majority organization.
