Rights and Protest: Apartheid South Africa and the US Civil Rights Movement

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key terminology, legislation, and historical events from the struggle for civil rights in both Apartheid South Africa and the United States between 1948 and 1965.

Apartheid

A word meaning 'apartness' in Afrikaans; it refers to the extreme version of racial segregation implemented by the National Party in South Africa after 1948.

Social Darwinism

A philosophy popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries applying Darwin's theories of natural selection to human society, arguing 'survival of the fittest' meant 'superior' races should dominate 'inferior' ones.

Calvinism

The austere theology of John Calvin, used by Afrikaners to argue that God created different races and intended for them to remain separate, with the 'elect' (Afrikaners) destined to rule.

Petty Apartheid

Also known as baasskap (boss rule), this refers to the earlier period of apartheid regulations designed to ensure complete economic and political domination of Whites over Blacks through fussy and repressive day-to-day laws.

Grand Apartheid

A more ideologically sophisticated phase of apartheid initiated by HF Verwoerd in the late 1950s, aiming for complete territorial segregation and 'separate development' of different racial groups.

Population Registration Act (1950)

An essential apartheid law that classified the entire South African population by race (White, Coloured, or Bantu) based on biological factors.

Miscegenation

Sexual relationships between persons from different racial groups; these were outlawed by the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and the Immorality Act (1950).

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)

The epitome of petty apartheid, this law provided for the strict segregation by race of all public facilities like buses, toilets, parks, and beaches.

Pass Laws Act (1952)

Formally called the Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, it required all Black Africans to carry 'reference books' containing employment records and permits at all times.

Group Areas Act (1950)

Described by Malan as 'the essence of apartheid,' it empowered the government to designate specific areas for the exclusive use of one racial group and forcibly remove others.

Sophiatown

A predominantly Black neighborhood in Johannesburg known for its vibrant jazz culture and shebeens; it was razed to the ground by the government in 1955 and replaced by the suburb 'Triomf'.

Bantu Education Act (1953)

A law that brought African education under the Native Affairs Department, providing a grossly inferior curriculum designed to prepare Black children for menial labor and domestic service.

Bantustans / Homelands

Small, 'independent' states created for Black South Africans to reside in, aimed at making them foreigners in the 'White' Republic of South Africa.

Defiance Campaign (1952)

The first coordinated nationwide protest by the ANC involving non-violent civil disobedience, such as burning passbooks and using Whites-only facilities.

Freedom Charter (1955)

An iconic document adopted by the Congress of the People that called for a democratic, non-racial South Africa with equitable wealth distribution.

Sharpeville Massacre (1960)

An event on March 21 when police killed 69 unarmed demonstrators protesting pass laws; it led to the government banning the ANC and PAC.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)

Meaning 'Spear of the Nation,' this was the armed wing of the ANC created in 1961 to conduct sabotage against the apartheid state.

Rivonia Trial (1963-64)

The legal proceeding against the leadership of the MK and ANC, resulting in life imprisonment for Nelson Mandela and others on charges of treason and sabotage.

Peonage

A form of debt slavery common in the Jim Crow South, where workers were forced to labor until they paid off debts to business owners.

Lynching

Extra-judicial homicide, often carried out by white mobs against African Americans to maintain social and political control in the South.

Grandfather Clause

A legal mechanism allowing individuals whose grandfathers could vote before 1867 to be exempt from new literacy tests and poll taxes, effectively disenfranchising African Americans.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled segregated public schools were 'inherently unequal,' overturning the 'separate but equal' doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Massive Resistance

A state policy declared by Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia in 1956 to oppose federal court orders for school desegregation through legislative and legal obstacles.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

A year-long grassroots protest triggered by Rosa Parks' arrest, marking the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. and non-violent mass action in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Freedom Rides (1961)

Integrated groups of activists who traveled on interstate buses through the Deep South to challenge illegal segregation in terminals and transportation.

Freedom Summer (1964)

A campaign in Mississippi organized by COFO to register African American voters and establish Freedom Schools, which faced extreme violence including the murder of civil rights workers.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A comprehensive federal law that outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, schools, and employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation that outlawed literacy tests and granted the federal government power to oversee voter registration in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.

Nation of Islam (NOI)

A religious group that espoused Black nationalism and separatism, defining white Americans as the 'enemy' and emphasizing economic self-reliance.

SNCC

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a grassroots organization of college students known for leading sit-ins and voter registration drives in the rural 'Black Belt' of the South.