As in Canada and other colonized regions, Indigenous communities were progressively dispossessed of their lands.

The architects of apartheidĪpartheid was firmly rooted in South Africa’s colonial history. The government used the pass laws to control the movement of black South Africans, restricting where they could work and live. Such laws had existed before apartheid, but under apartheid, they became much worse. Some of the most racist laws were pass laws, which forced black South Africans to carry a pass at all times.

Apartheid laws restricted almost every aspect of black South Africans’ lives. Black South Africans – 80 percent of the population – were relegated to the very bottom. The concept was endorsed, legalized and promoted by the National Party, which was elected in South Africa in 1948 by a minority, exclusively white electorate.Īpartheid laws placed all South Africans into one of four racial categories: “white/European,” “native/black,” “coloured,” (people of “mixed race”) or “Indian/Asian.” White people – 15 percent of the South African population – stood at the top, wielding power and wealth.

The Sharpeville Massacre occurred in a South Africa that denied the rights and freedoms of anyone who was not considered “white” under a system called “apartheid.”Īpartheid means “apartness” in the Afrikaans language.

South africa township violence