Protests and Action Against Apartheid (1948–1964)

Vocabulary flashcards focusing on key concepts, organizations, legislation, and major political events surrounding the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa between 1948 and 1964.

Defiance Campaign

The first coordinated nationwide campaign organized by the ANC in 1952 against the apartheid system, marking a new, more radical phase of non-violent civil disobedience.

Programme of Action

A platform created by the ANC Youth League in 1949 and adopted as official ANC policy, incorporating militant strategies against White minority rule.

Civil disobedience

The strategy of protesting against unjust laws by deliberately breaking them, usually using non-violent means.

Franchise Action Council (FRAC)

A Coloured organization created to protest the National Party government's decision to remove Coloureds from the voters' roll.

National Action Committee (NAC)

A body established in June 1952 consisting of representatives from the ANC, SAIC, and FRAC to organize the Defiance Campaign.

National Volunteers Board (NVB)

A board created to coordinate protests during the Defiance Campaign, led by Nelson Mandela as national volunteer-in-chief.

Six Unjust Laws

The target laws of the 1952 Defiance Campaign: Pass Laws Act, Group Areas Act, Suppression of Communism Act, Bantu Authorities Act, Separate Representation of Voters Act, and Stock Limitation Act.

Criminal Law Amendment Act (1953)

Legislation introduced by the South African government in March 1953 allowing courts to hand down longer sentences and whipping for offences committed by way of protest.

Congress of the People (COP)

An alliance of anti-apartheid congress movements convened in 1955 to unite South Africa's racial groups, broaden the ANC's base, and draft the Freedom Charter.

Congress Alliance

A popular front formed in 1954 comprising the ANC, SAIC, South African Coloured People's Organization, South African Communist Party, South African Congress of Democrats, and SACTU.

Freedom Charter

An iconic document adopted at Kliptown on 26 June 1955 calling for an end to apartheid, a democratic non-racial government, and the equitable distribution of South Africa's wealth and resources.

Million Signatures Campaign

An initiative organized during the Congress of the People where volunteers recorded grievances and collected signatures from ordinary South Africans.

Treason Trial

Marathon legal proceedings beginning in 1956 where the government accused anti-apartheid leaders of treason following the adoption of the Freedom Charter; all accused were acquitted in 1961.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)

The armed wing of the ANC, formed in 1961 when the movement adopted the armed struggle against apartheid.

Rivonia Trial

The 1963–1964 trial following the arrest of MK High Command members at Liliesleaf Farm, ending in guilty verdicts and life imprisonment on Robben Island for ANC leaders.

Mayibuye!

A political slogan meaning 'Let it return', shouted by volunteers during the Defiance Campaign, to which crowds responded 'Afrika!'.