1. Apartheid South Africa (1948-1964)

''Apartheid was a political and social structure in South Africa while it was under white minority rule from 1948 to early 1990’s. The Apartheid in South Africa can be divided into two sections in which segregation was upheld in different ways. Those two sections are called  Petty apartheid  and  Grand Apartheid.''

 Timeline from the book 

1948

•The National Party (NP) wins the general election. DF Malan is appointed prime minister.

1949

•The Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Act is passed.

•The first transport boycott of the Apartheid era takes place.

•The ANC adopts the Youth League’s programme of Action as its official policy.

•Alfred Xuma is replaced by James Moroka as ANC Security General.

•The Youth League mounts a coup against the AnC old guard as the party adopts the Programme of Action.

1950

•The Immorality Act, the Population Registration Act, the Group Areas Act and the Suppression of Communism Act are passed.

•The ANC launches the ”May Day stay-at-home” and 18 people are killed by the police.

•The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) is declared illegal under the suppression of Communism Act.

1951

•The Separate Representation of Voters Act and the Bantu Authorities Act are passed.

1952

•The Native Law Amendment Act and the Pass Laws Act are Passed.

•The ANC launches the Defiance Campaign against the six ”unjust laws”.

•Rioting breaks out in East London, Port Elizabeth, Kimberly and Johannesburg.

•Nelson Mandela is appointed volunteer-in.chief of the Defiance campaign.

1953

•The Bantu Education Act and the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act are passed.

•The Government introduces the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

•The Defiance campaign comes to an end.

•Morkoka is replaced by Chief Albert Luthuli as ANC Secretary General

•Luthuli and Mandela are issued with government banning orders for their involvement in the defiance.

•The CPSA is reconstructed as the South African Communist Party (SACP).

•The ANC adopts ”Plan of economic advancement).

1954

•DF Malan retires and JG Strijdom is appointed prime minister.

•The congress of Alliance is formed.

•The ANC launches the Resist Apartheid Campaign

•The ANC and SACP come tighter in the Congress of the People (COP)

1955

•The Government Begins its policies of forced removals.

•The Congress of People (COP) begins.

•The Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Character at a mass rally in Kliptown.

•The ANC announces the boycott of schools in protest of the Bantu Education Act.

1956 

•The Treason Trial begins.

1957

•A bus boycott begins in Alexandra.

•The government backs down and agrees to subsidies bus fares.

1958

•Strijdom dies and HF Verwoerd is appointed prime minister.

•There is a split in the ANC ad Robert Sobukwe and fellow Africanists leave the party.

1959

•The Extension of University Education Act and the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act are passed.

•The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) breaks away from the ANC

1960

•The Sharpeville massacre takes place.

•The ANC is banned.

•Luthuli burns his passbook in protest of the Sharpeville massacre.

1961

•South Africa leaves the Commonwealth and Verwoerd declares a republic.

•The ANC adopts the armed struggle with the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Known as MK)

•The treason Trial Collapses

•Mandela is adressed the All-in African Conference.

•Mandela goes underground as the ”Black Pimpernel”

•Luthuli travels to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prise.

•Mandela and others persuade the ANC to adopt the armed struggle and MK begins operations.

1962

•Mandela is arrested and imprisoned.

1963

•The Transkei Act is passed.

•Members of the MK High Command are arrested at Liliesleaf Farm.

•The Rivonia Trial begins

•MK plans Operation Mayibuye, members of the High Command are arrested.

1964

•The Rivonia Trial ends with guilty verdicts.

•ANC leaders taken to begin their life sentences on Robben Island

•ANC leaders are imprisoned, the ANC begins its period in exile

Organisations

Key actors

Key events