Dates
In this year, the African National Congress (ANC) was banned following the Sharpeville Massacre.
1960
This is the number of Bantustans.
What is 10?
This ANC leader was imprisoned for 27 years and became South Africa’s first Black president in 1994.
Who is Nelson Mandela?
This 1950 law forced Black South Africans to live in separate areas and restricted land ownership.
What is the Group Areas Act?
In 1960, police opened fire on peaceful protesters outside a police station, killing 69 people.
What is the Sharpeville Massacre?
The year Nelson Mandela was released from prison, signaling the beginning of the end of apartheid.
What is 1990?
By the 1970s, about this percentage of South Africa’s land had been designated as 'homelands' or Bantustans for Black South Africans.
What is about 13%?
In 1977, this Black Consciousness leader died in police custody, becoming a martyr of the struggle.
Who is Steve Biko?
This 1950 law banned marriages between white and non-white South Africans.
What is the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act?
In 1963–64, Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders were tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in this famous trial.
What is the Rivonia Trial?
This year saw the Soweto Uprising, when schoolchildren protested against Afrikaans as the medium of instruction.
What is 1976?
Roughly this percentage of South Africa’s population was Black African in 1960.
What is 70%?
In 1989, this president succeeded P.W. Botha and began dismantling apartheid with negotiations and reforms.
Who is F.W. de Klerk?
This 1973 law created separate 'homelands' where Black South Africans were forced to become citizens.
What is the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act?
This 1985 government measure granted sweeping powers to security forces, including mass arrests without trial.
What is the State of Emergency?
This year marked the first democratic elections in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela becoming president.
What is 1994?
Despite being designated 'homelands' for Black South Africans, Bantustans only ever housed this fraction of the Black population.
What is one third?
This Pan Africanist Congress leader organized the protest in Sharpeville in 1960.
Who is Robert Sobukwe?
This 1950 law classified all South Africans into racial groups: White, Black, Coloured, or Indian.
What is the Population Registration Act?
This 1952 campaign led by the ANC encouraged people to deliberately break apartheid laws in a nonviolent way.
What is the Defiance Campaign?
This year, the National Party came to power in South Africa and formally introduced the policy of apartheid.
What is 1948?
During apartheid, the average income of Black South Africans was this percentage of white South Africans’ income.
What is less than 10%?
This president of South Africa from 1948 to 1954 was the main architect of apartheid policies.
Who is D.F. Malan?
This 1953 law made it illegal for Black and white South Africans to share public facilities such as buses, parks, and schools.
What is the Separate Amenities Act?
This 1989–1991 process of secret and public negotiations between the ANC and the government laid the foundation for a democratic South Africa.
What are the CODESA talks?