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South Africa became a unified state within the British Empire. It combined four British colonies as separate provinces within the new state: Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. Black people were denied the right to vote. -
Was founded and later renamed the African National Congress (ANC). Its goal was to unite Africans and to secure their right to vote. -
Urged new militant African leaders to wage a more vigorous campaign against racial descrimination. Its leaders are Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo. -
The United Party Commissions the Fagan Report, which recommends gradualintergration of the races. The National Party commissions the Sauer Report, which recommends a policy of apartheid. -
In 1944, Nelson Mandela and other young nationalists created the ANC Youth League. The Youth League Programme of Action was adopted as the official platform of the ANC in 1949. It emphasized the rights of African people to self-determination and laid out plans for strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience. -
To promote the separation of races by outlawing sexual relations and procreation between different populations. -
Divided territories for Black people into bantustans/homelands based upon 10 tribal groupings. Stripped Black people of their rights to participate in the national government of SOuth Africa. Instead, Black people only had the right to vote for the puppet governments in their territory. -
The ANC, SACP, ACPO co-ordinate a May Day strike. The police opened fire on the protesters killing 19 and wounding 30 people. -
Required that every person classified within a hierarchy specified as white, colored, Asian or Bantu. Only white people could vote. -
Formally divided South Africa where the different race groups had to live. The areas designated for Black people were called Bantustans. Black people had no property rights in the White areas, and could only live there with state permission. -
Was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed any party or group subscribing to communism. -
Introduced to enforce racial segregation and was part of a deliberate process to remove all non-white people from the voters’ roll and revoke the Cape Qualified Franchise system. -
Required all Africans to carry a more comprehensive passbook at all times. It was a complete record of the person’s life. -
The ANC Defiance Campaign of 1952 was the largest scale non-violent resistance ever seen in South Africa. More than 8,000 people across towns in South Africa went to jail for defying apartheid laws. The campaign did not overturn apartheid, but it brought together people of all racial groups under the leadership of the ANC and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC). ANC membership grew from 7000 to 100 000. -
The ANC called for a general strike and a day of mourning in protest at the May day murders. This call was supported by the African Coulored People’s Organization and the South African Indian Congress. -
Provided an inferior and separate education for black children and youth. -
Empowered the government to declares states of emergency and increased penalties for protestors. The penalties included fines, imprisonment and whippings. -
Enforced the segregation of all public facilities. The aim was to eliminate any and all contact between white people and other races. -
Armed the government with the bureaucratic machinery that would allow for resettlement of Africans. -
United people of all racial origins in a common struggle to end apartheid and to establish a non-racial democratic state. It formed the basis of the country’s democratic Constitution of 1996. “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white…we, the people of South Africa, black and white together equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this Freedom Charter”. -
Was held over two days in a field in Kliptown, just outside Johannesburg. Up to 7 000 people from all over the country attended from a wide range of anti-apartheid groups: The ANC, PAC, CD (Congress of Democrats – whites), SAIC (Indians), ACPO (coloureds), SACTU (Trade Unions), FASW (Federation of S. African Women). -
Police surrounded the meeting, recorded names of people signing the charter, used this to arrest 156 of them and put them on trial the following year. -
20,000 ANC women marched to the Prime Minister’s office to deliver a petition calling for the abolition of the pass laws. Although Prime Minister Strijdom had been told about the march, he chose not to be at the Union Buildings on the day. The anti-pass campaign ultimately failed and, by the 1960s, millions of black women were forced to carry passes. -
The police arrested 156
Congress Alliance leaders (104 African, 23 white, 21 Indian and 8 coloured) and charged them with treason under the Suppression of Communism Act. -
A group of radicalized activists split away from the ANC to form the PAC. They felt that the focus of the ANC was being lost through its compromises with non-Black organizations and that it was time to pursue a more vigorous “Africanist” campaign which would secure “Black Power” in Africa (“Africa is for Africans”). -
The ANC and the PAC were outlawed. Due to his overall ‘responsibility’ for the Pass Protest in Sharpeville, Sobukwe was arrested and jailed until 1969. -
Introduced by the state under the pretext of land betterment. The act paved the way for the forced removal or slaughter of cattle belonging to African people in the reserves. -
20,000 PAC-mobilized protesters left their homes without their passes and gathered in Sharpeville, a township in the Transvaal about 30 miles south of Johannesburg. The police responded by opening fire on the unarmed throng. During this assault, 69 Black people were killed and another 186 were wounded, the majority of whom were hit in the back. -
British Prime Minister Harold MacMillans delivered his “Winds of Change” speech, suggesting that Black nationalism was a force that had to be acknowledged and accepted. -
UN Resolution 1598 condemns apartheid. -
In the PAC, Leballo set up a militant wing called Poqo (pure), which launched a campaign of terrorism against property. -
South Africa declared itself a republic. Its request to remain a member of the commonwealth is rejected by the British government. -
In the ANC, Mandela set up a militant wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) which launched a campaign sabotage against individuals. -
UN Resolution 1761 encourages members "separately or collectively, in conformity with the charter" to break trade and diplomatic relations with South Africa. -
Ten leading opponents of apartheid went on trial for their lives on charges of sabotage. In arguably the most profound moment, Nelson Mandela renounced his chance to be cross-examined in favour of a speech from the dock in which he condemned the court and the laws he was charged with breaking as being illegitimate. -
A group made up largely by white students who had been part of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). On 24 July 1964, Frederick John Harris, a member of ARM, planted a time bomb in the Johannesburg station. One person was killed and 22 were injured. Both ARM and the ANC condemned his action. He was sentenced to death and executed in 1965. -
By imprisoning leaders of MK and the ANC, the government broke the strength of the ANC inside South Africa. At the same time this increased international criticism of apartheid.