| Apartheid literally translates as "apartness" from | | | | public facilities established educational standards, |
| Afrikaans. Apartheid was a system of racial | | | | restricted each group to certain types of jobs, curtailed |
| segregation that was enforced in South Africa from | | | | non-white labour unions, denied non-white participation |
| 1948 to 1994. | | | | in the national government, and established various |
| Racial segregation and the dominance of whites had | | | | black African "homelands", partly self-governing units |
| been traditionally accepted in South Africa prior to | | | | that were nevertheless politically and economically |
| 1948, but the general election of that year, Daniel F. | | | | dependent on South Africa. |
| Malan officially included the policy of apartheid in the | | | | The Black majority, in particular, legally became citizens |
| Afrikaner Nationalist party platform, bringing his party to | | | | of particular "homelands" that were nominally sovereign |
| power for the first time. Although most white | | | | nations but operated more akin to United States Indian |
| acquiesced in the policy, there was bitter and | | | | Reservations and Australian/Canadian Aboriginal |
| sometimes bloody dissension over the degree and | | | | Reserves. In reality however, a majority of Black |
| stringency of its implementation. | | | | South Africans never resided in these "homelands". In |
| Under apartheid, people were legally classified into a | | | | practise, this prevented non-white people - even if |
| racial group - the main one being White, Black, Indian | | | | actually resident in white South Africa - from having a |
| and Coloured - and were geographically, and forcibly, | | | | vote or influence, restricting their rights to faraway |
| separated from each other on the basis of the legal | | | | homelands that they may never have visited. |
| classification. The purpose of apartheid was separation | | | | Education, medical care, and other public services |
| of the races, not only of whites from nonwhites, but | | | | were sometimes claimed to be separate but equal, but |
| also of nonwhites from each other, and, among the | | | | those available to non-white people were generally |
| Africans (called Bantu in South Africa), of one group | | | | inferior. |
| from another. In addition to the Africans, who represent | | | | The end of apartheid started in 1993 when a draft |
| about 75% of the total population, those regarded as | | | | constitution was published , which guaranteed freedom |
| nonwhites include those people known in the country | | | | of speech and religion, access to adequate housing |
| as Coloured (people of mixed black, Malayan, and | | | | and numerous other benefits, and explicitly prohibiting |
| white descent) and Asian (mainly of Indian ancestry) | | | | discrimination on almost any ground. Midnight on 26-27 |
| populations. | | | | April 1994 the old flag, which represented an all white |
| The Group Areas Act of 1950 established residential | | | | nation, was lowered. The old national anthem was |
| and business sectors in urban areas for each "race" | | | | sung, followed by the raising of the "rainbow flag" and |
| and strengthened the existing "pass" laws, which | | | | the singing of the other co-official anthem. Since then |
| required nonwhites to carry identification papers. Other | | | | the day is celebrated as a public holiday in South |
| laws forbade most social contacts between those of | | | | Africa known as Freedom Day. |
| European descent and others, authorised segregated | | | | Apartheid was a reality for many South Africans! |