African History Final exam questions
ss3492
south_africas_apartheid.pptxSouth Africa’s Apartheid Introduction: contextualize; August 12, 1946, major labor strike by mineworkers; Smuts crushed the strike; used as campaign against his gov’t
Immediate post-war era: two committees
1946: Henry Fagan committee argued that total segregation was impossible, and called for continuous control of African labor
1948: Paul Sauer committee recommended either complete equality between blacks and whites or total segregation (Apartheid)
Era of Apartheid, 1948 - 1994
In the parliamentary election of 1948, National Party won by a slim margin, 79 to 71 seats; formed a gov’t., and began to implement Apartheid
May 1948, Daniel Malan took over as PM; and very quickly moved to consolidate power
The party introduced bilingualism in SA; English and Afrikaans; implication?
Bedrock legislation
1949: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act
1950: immorality Act
1950: Population Registration Act
1950: Group Areas Act
1950: Suppression of Communism Act
1951: The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act
1952: Abolition of Passes Act
1953: Criminal Law Amendment Act
All in all 317 Apartheid laws were put in the book– may were refinements of previous legislations. Taken together the laws empowered the Afrikaner gov’t. to: imprison anyone without trial; banish anyone from any part of the country; forbid anyone to speak in public; forbid anyone to write for publication; forbid anyone to travel; ban gathering, meetings, demonstration; ban any organization; confiscate passport of any citizen without explanation; and enter the premises without a search warrant
African Response & road to resistance
Ideology of World War II
1943: Congress Youth League was formed; goals, members included Peter Mda, William Nkomo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu
1944: Anton Lembede became leader of CYL; called for mass mobilization/action; advocated change of tactics; Africans needed to reassert themselves in their land; criticized the ANC for being too elitist and not representing the people
1947: Lembede died, but had already advocated a new course for the youth in ANC
1948: members of the CYL called for the introduction of the Programme for Action
1951: Pixley Seme died, and the tactic of moderation was replaced. New activists now were Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, & Mandela.
1951: Program for Action; strikes, launched in cooperation with South African Indian Congress (SAIC), Communist Party, and other colored organizations
1952: Defiance Campaign; gov’t response
1955: congress of the People; out of it emerged the Freedom Charter
1955: the Treason Trial; activists were arrested, locked up largely in the same jail; implication?
Conflict over strategy within the ANC led to the founding of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) led by Robert Sobukwe in 1959; ANC remained under the leadership of Albert Luthuli
PAC insisted on “Africa for the Africans.”
PAC planned the status campaign to prevent whites from calling blacks “Kaffir,” or “native,” but campaign wasn’t successful; proceeded to plan an anti-pass campaign for 1960 in Sharpeville
March 1960, Sharpeville Massacre: police responded with violence; scores of blacks were killed, many were wounded.
Consequences were immense: protest all over the world; SA withdrew from Commonwealth - became a republic; attempts to impose universal sanctions on SA were blocked by Britain and the US; SA banned from international sporting competition, etc
South African government declared a state of emergency; banned the ANC; PAC; Communist Party
ANC & PAC went underground; organized sabotage, etc
1962: Mandela was arrested, later charged with treason
Rivonia Trial: several were tried. Mandela’s main argument:
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
June 1963: UN Security Council called on SA gov’t to end the trial and release the defendants.
The judge sentenced Mandela and other defendants to life imprisonment. Mandela will spend most of his prison life in Robben Island until 1990 when he was released
High noon for Afrikaner nationalism
The boom years: SA’s economy boomed.
1962: trade with England continued: 29.6% of SA imports; and 34% of SA exports
Between 1965 and 1972, West Germany’s investment in SA rose from R70 million to R1.5 billion
By 1975, West Germany’s investment in SA surpassed Britain’s.
France also increased its commercial relations with SA
Homeland Policy: explain; establishment of ten homelands; implication for Apartheid, and its survival.
Transkei, Kwazulu, Ciskei, Venda, etc
Bantustans, and destruction of black communities; explain
Threats to Apartheid
Lusaka Manifesto: led by Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda, the Manifesto warned SA that future relations with African nations was based on whether or SA ended its policy of separate development
End of buffer zones: Mozambique, Angola, and later Zimbabwe
SOWETO ( Southwestern Eastern Townships of Johannesburg); turning point, students rejected use of Afrikaan, and other policies, sense of black consciousness
Impact of Black Power in the US; independence in Angola & Mozambique; global condemnation of Apartheid, etc
Protest was brutally put down; students responded with more determination; swapped books for AK-47s; joined the struggle
Steve Biko: black power & consciousness; born in the eastern Cape; 1967, he was a medical student at Natal University; 1968 at the National Union of South African Students meeting, he engaged in conversations with other black students about the secondary role assigned to blacks
Promoted the idea of black consciousness; 1969- South African Student’s Organization (SASO) with Biko as president; became increasingly critical of the liberals in NUSAS
“Do not be a part of your oppression,” Biko noted
Biko’s perception of the role of a white person in the struggle
1977 Biko was killed in prison; explain impact
Turning point?
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Decline of Apartheid: protests, economic sanctions, reversal of church policy, collapse of Berlin Wall, etc
F.W de Klerk took over from P.W. Botha, and began talking of a united SA, one person one vote, elimination of racial segregation.
Timeline: March 1982, Mandela & some inmates taken from Robben Island to a prison near Cape Town with better treatment; 1985: Mandela contacted and asked gov’t to negotiate for better conditions; December 1988, Mandela was moved into large house with maids, etc. Botha resigned as president in August 1989; De Klerk took over and 2 February announced the impending release of Mandela; also unbanning the ANC & PAC.
Mandela was released on 11 February, 1990. He concluded the speech he gave with the Freedom Charter.
