Grade 9 History: Turning Points in Modern South African History Since 1948

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core key terms, legislation, concepts, and locations related to Grade 9 South African history and apartheid.

Apartheid

An Afrikaans word meaning 'apartness', referring to a system of racial segregation laws introduced in South Africa starting in 1948, built on racism and the idea that white people were superior.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

A document written in 1948 by the United Nations Organization (UNO) setting universal standards for human dignity and basic rights, which the South African apartheid government refused to sign.

Dignity

Being worthy of respect.

Racism

A false idea or myth that certain groups of people are better than others.

Ideology

A set of beliefs, values, and ideas.

Myth

A story or idea that is not true or cannot be proven.

Segregation

The practice or policy of creating separate facilities within the same society for the use of a particular group.

Natives Land Act of 1913

A law passed in 1913 that established unequal access to land, keeping African people separate and serving as one of the main pillars of apartheid.

Main Apartheid Laws Table

A summary of key apartheid legislation designed to increase white power and living standards, increase race separation, and control black movement.

Separate Amenities Act

An apartheid law under which all public amenities were segregated.

Suppression of Communism Act and Terrorism Act

Laws that banned political organisations the National Party thought were communist or terrorist, leading to people being arrested, detained, and tortured.

Bantu Education Act

An apartheid law under which Black children received inferior education.

Bantu Self-government Act

An apartheid law that created a system of homelands or Bantustans.

Population Registration Act

An apartheid law that classified people into different race groups.

Passes Act

An apartheid law requiring African men to carry pass books, used to control the movement of African male workers.

Group Areas Act

An apartheid law setting aside specific areas for specific races, forcing many people to move from their homes.

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages and Immorality Act

Apartheid laws that disallowed marriages between black and white people and made sexual relations between black and white people illegal.

Slum

A poor area where people live in inferior conditions.

Sophiatown

A racially mixed suburb and slum in South Africa whose residents were forcibly removed under the Group Areas Act before it was rebuilt into a white suburb called Triomf.

Bantustans

Ten homelands established under HF Verwoerd where every African was assigned based on ethnic language group, which the government falsely claimed were separate democratic countries.

Mogopa

An example of a community subjected to forced removal under apartheid, whose people were compelled to move to Bophutswana.