Preview

How Successful Were the Methods Used to Fight Apartheid in South Africa? Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1233 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Successful Were the Methods Used to Fight Apartheid in South Africa? Essay Example
-------------------------------------------------
How Successful were the Methods used to Fight Apartheid in South Africa?

This essay will be discussing Apartheid and what methods were used to fight it, also whether they were successful or not. The word Apartheid is an Afrikaans word for apart or separateness. This was a law put in place by an Afrikaans Prime Minister called Dr. Daniel Malan, Dr. Malan put this law in place in 1948 to keep the Afrikaans race pure of any Black or Coloured blood, and there was always separation between blacks and whites but this law made it legal and legitimate. Apartheid was generally just a different approach to segregation. Blacks and Coloureds were not allowed to do certain things that they could do before the apartheid. As time went on the Apartheid laws got worse and worse because the White race had to keep in control over the black population even though the white were in major minority, such as the Group Areas Act (1950) this law divided South Africa into different areas based on race White people had larger more fertile areas when Black and Coloureds were forced into small shanty towns. Another law that was constantly resisted was the Native Act (1952) which was every non- white person at the age of 16 and over had to carry a pass book, this had 96 pages with all sorts of information but the most important was the page that states the owners, job, name, fingerprint and race. If a non-white person was found without their pass book would be arrested. There were many Black and Coloured South African people who hated apartheid and fought it in many ways and different methods. (aylett 8-10).
One method of fighting apartheid was demonstrations, such as the one at Sharpeville. On March 21st there was an anti-pass demonstration in the small township of Sharpeville, a crowd of black citizens grouped around the police office to protest. It was uncertain whether the crowd was violent or peaceful but it was certain that in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Apartheid is a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race. During apartheid, blacks suffered while whites lived a luxurious life.Whites lived in big houses with swimming pools while blacks were living in small townships or shacks. Having mixed babies was against the law. People had to get married according to their race. If someone had a mixed child, they would either be abused or taken away.…

    • 98 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    How far do you agree that the years 1945-1955 saw only limited progress in improving the status of African-Americans?…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    GKE Task 2

    • 1554 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1948, the Afrikaner dominated National Party established the apartheid customs into law (Sohail, 2005). In response to this the ANC initiated the Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws at the urging of Mandela (Sohail, 2005). This was the turning point for the ANC and the beginning of Mandela’s rise to recognized leader within the ANC. Prior to this campaign the ANC was committed to peaceful negotiations. With Mandela’s convincing they converted to nonviolent protesting with the goal of overthrowing the white minority government and putting an end to the apartheid laws ("Nelson Mandela," 2009). These unsuccessful protests were met with violent opposition. It was one such violent encounter that propelled Nelson Mandela and the ANC to adopt violence as a means of protest. In 1960, sixty nine protestors were killed by government police, this act ultimately lead to the development of Umkhonto we Sizwe…

    • 1554 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peaceful protesting was a method used excessively between the period of 1955-64 (and prior to this) during the civil rights movement. It was used to bring about a “de jure” (legal change) and “de facto” (practical change) change for the rights of black Americans. Peaceful protesting was used as a means of theoretically “fighting” against unjust laws following the ideals of civil disobedience. This precise method was used by civil rights activist Martin Luther king and many others. Peaceful protesting was quite successful for the success of the civil rights movement.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While the movement was triggered by a series of random sit-ins, the civil rights leaders and the youths were able to strategize using nonviolence as a method of exposing the truth about segregation. By reacting peacefully to the violence they faced by the angry mob, people were moved to call for an end against racial…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.- Nelson Mandela". Discrimination was a serious issue back in the 70s. This was all based around the color of people's skin. In the novel Legend there is also deiscrimnation but in the book it's based around a test they run called the trials which determines a persons future. In the real world discrimination was mostly in southern areas where slavery had been legal for decades. In the novel a character by the name of Day had passed his…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mandela campaigned for volunteers to not retaliate even when they are being attacked (document 6). He convinced people fighting back would ultimately lead to their failure. King took part in counter sit-ins where black people peacefully protested segregated lunch counters (document 1). The peace of the movement showed how extreme and hateful the majority of white people were at the time. After Gandhi was arrested, one Englishman documented Mme. Naidu leading a peaceful protest that lead to hundreds of people getting beat without flinching a muscle (document 4). The cruelty was so great that even the Englishman had to turn away from the gross and sickening…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peaceful protesting was only doing so much, the alternative of Black Power had begun to flourish in the late 60’s because it demanded respect through violent, attention-grabbing approaches that were created to actually change segregation and equality. The 1950’s and early 60’s were eras driven by the consumer culture, the US was extremely wealthy, the automobile industry was booming, suburban lifestyle had grown, television became extremely popular, and the general view of America was good (to say the least). The only ‘bad’ aspect of the US was inequality and the unrecognized rights (Blacks deserved). The US originally opted for saving justice and peace amongst Black communities in civil and non-violent ways, but there was limited execution. In 1954, for example, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. This landmark case began a series of significant Civil Rights movements with regards to desegregation and equal rights. The early 60’s brought upon new perspectives and the idea of peaceful resolution was one of…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nadine Gordimer

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For Gordimer, Dr. von Leinsdorf’s apathy and inherent racism are manifestations of the rejection that characterized apartheid in South Africa. In her essay, “1959: What is Apartheid?”, Gordimer writes, “In all of a black man’s life, all his life, rejection by the white man has the last word. With his word of rejection apartheid began, long before it hardened into laws and legislation, long before it became a theory of racial selectiveness and the policy of a government.”…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism is an issue which frequently generates a great deal of heated debate. Back in history, the aspect of slavery is portrayed as the way of life for African Americans. Therefore, during the between 1954-68 period, the movement of black Americans became one of the most important movement in our history. It first appeared in the United States and the main concept of this movement concerned with social equality. Nowadays, most people believe that the negative effects of apartheid do not appear in African Americans in today’s society anymore. However, in my view, I am firmly convinced that African Americans still struggle against racism and oppression in several ways for equality and rights.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Apartheid in South Africa

    • 2344 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Thesis: The 19th century conquest of South Africa in pursuit of financial gain, resulted in economic, social, and political oppression of blacks along with environmental devastation.…

    • 2344 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The civil rights movement was a period of time when African Americans attempted to gain…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mandela and Rugby

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Apartheid, the system of segregation and discrimination based upon race or color of one’s skin that had South Africa torn. Apartheid had been the cause of many battles of race and battles for equality. Nelson Mandela became the solution and the man credited for reuniting the country. Ironically he used the vehicle of Rugby, mind you a sport prided by the white Afrikaners to do so.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. He was born in Transkei, a small farming village in South Africa. He was the only child to attend school in his family. During his education he became interested in African history and he decided that he wanted to be a political activist. When he turned sixteen years old he decided that it was time for him to take action towards racial segregation by Apartheid leaders. He would eventually formulate his resolve for an independent South Africa.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mike

    • 616 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As many of you know I was born and grew up in Cape Town – South Africa. Cape Town was the city where the Houses of Parliament wrote the now infamous Apartheid laws in legal history. These laws created a system that embedded racial segregation in South Africa. Apartheid lasted for forty-two years from 1948 until 1990. Apartheid was an awful environment for both white and black people to grow up in.…

    • 616 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays