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Apartheid "Legislation" (1948-64)

Petty Apartheid

  • Referred to the laws that impacted day-to-day life

  • e.g. separate beaches, restaurants, and toilet facilities

  • There was a never-ending application of these laws

Grand apartheid

  • Involved the loss of political and land rights

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Act (1949)

  • An apartheid-era law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites"

  • The first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the National Party's rise to power in 1948

The Immorality (Amendment) Act (1950)

  • Criminalized extra-marital interracial sex between heterosexual white South Africans and people of other “races.”

The Population Registration Act (1950)

  • Required all citizens to be identified and registered as belonging to one of four core racial groups: white, colored, Indian, Bantu (black African)

The Group Areas Act (1950)

  • Fashioned as the “cornerstone” of Apartheid policy

  • The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid

  • To exclude people of color from living in the most developed areas

The Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

  • Renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976

  • Formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed any party or group subscribing to communism, according to a uniquely broad definition of the term.

The Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951)

  • The National Party introduced it to enforce racial segregation

  • It was part of a process to remove all non-white people from the voters' roll and revoke the Cape Qualified Franchise system.

The Bantu Authorities Act (1951)

  • Aka. Black Authorities Act

  • To give authority to Traditional Tribal Leaders within their traditional tribal homelands in South Africa

The Native Laws Amendment Act (1952)

  • Part of the apartheid system

  • Limited the category of blacks who had the right to permanent residence in urban areas.

The Pass Laws Act (1952)

  • Aka. The Natives’ Law

  • Served as an internal passport system designed to racially segregate the population, restrict the movement of individuals, and allocate low-wage migrant labor

The Bantu Education Act (1953)

  • Aka. The Black Education Act

  • Enforced racially-separated educational facilities

  • The government no longer helps to support their schools. Very few authorities continued using their finances to support education for native Africans

  • Black teachers' salaries in 1953 were extremely low and resulted in a dramatic drop in trainee teachers

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)

  • Legalized the racial segregation of public premises, vehicles, and services

  • Only public roads and streets were excluded from the Act

The Extension of University Education Act (1959)

  • Made it a criminal offense for a non-white student to register at a formerly open university without the written permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (1959)

  • Relabeled the reserves as “homelands,” or Bantustans, in which only specific ethnic groups were to have residence rights

The Transkei Constitution Act (1963)

  • The first 'self-governing' homeland government, namely that of Transkei

  • It "provided for a legislative assembly to exercise control over finance, justice, interior, education, agriculture and forestry, and roads and works” (no way approaches political independence)

Apartheid "Legislation" (1948-64)

Petty Apartheid

  • Referred to the laws that impacted day-to-day life

  • e.g. separate beaches, restaurants, and toilet facilities

  • There was a never-ending application of these laws

Grand apartheid

  • Involved the loss of political and land rights

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Act (1949)

  • An apartheid-era law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites"

  • The first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the National Party's rise to power in 1948

The Immorality (Amendment) Act (1950)

  • Criminalized extra-marital interracial sex between heterosexual white South Africans and people of other “races.”

The Population Registration Act (1950)

  • Required all citizens to be identified and registered as belonging to one of four core racial groups: white, colored, Indian, Bantu (black African)

The Group Areas Act (1950)

  • Fashioned as the “cornerstone” of Apartheid policy

  • The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid

  • To exclude people of color from living in the most developed areas

The Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

  • Renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976

  • Formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed any party or group subscribing to communism, according to a uniquely broad definition of the term.

The Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951)

  • The National Party introduced it to enforce racial segregation

  • It was part of a process to remove all non-white people from the voters' roll and revoke the Cape Qualified Franchise system.

The Bantu Authorities Act (1951)

  • Aka. Black Authorities Act

  • To give authority to Traditional Tribal Leaders within their traditional tribal homelands in South Africa

The Native Laws Amendment Act (1952)

  • Part of the apartheid system

  • Limited the category of blacks who had the right to permanent residence in urban areas.

The Pass Laws Act (1952)

  • Aka. The Natives’ Law

  • Served as an internal passport system designed to racially segregate the population, restrict the movement of individuals, and allocate low-wage migrant labor

The Bantu Education Act (1953)

  • Aka. The Black Education Act

  • Enforced racially-separated educational facilities

  • The government no longer helps to support their schools. Very few authorities continued using their finances to support education for native Africans

  • Black teachers' salaries in 1953 were extremely low and resulted in a dramatic drop in trainee teachers

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)

  • Legalized the racial segregation of public premises, vehicles, and services

  • Only public roads and streets were excluded from the Act

The Extension of University Education Act (1959)

  • Made it a criminal offense for a non-white student to register at a formerly open university without the written permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (1959)

  • Relabeled the reserves as “homelands,” or Bantustans, in which only specific ethnic groups were to have residence rights

The Transkei Constitution Act (1963)

  • The first 'self-governing' homeland government, namely that of Transkei

  • It "provided for a legislative assembly to exercise control over finance, justice, interior, education, agriculture and forestry, and roads and works” (no way approaches political independence)

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