Apartheid Key Terms

Nelson Mandela – A key leader of the African National Congress who fought against apartheid, co-founded the Umkhonto we Sizwe, and later became the first black president of South Africa.

Voting Rights Act – A 1965 law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson that outlawed discriminatory practices like literacy tests, ensuring African Americans the right to vote.

Civil Rights Act – A landmark 1964 law proposed by JFK and signed by LBJ that outlawed discrimination in public places and employment based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

ANC (African National Congress) – A political organization that fought against apartheid through protests, campaigns like the Defiance Campaign, and eventually, more radical actions.

SACP (South African Communist Party) – A political party forced underground due to apartheid laws, which allied with the ANC and played a role in ending apartheid through political education and negotiations.

Grand Apartheid – A policy in South Africa aimed at segregating the population on a large scale, forcing non-whites into specific areas and limiting their political representation.

Petty Apartheid – Apartheid policies that controlled day-to-day interactions between races, such as prohibiting interracial marriages and segregating public amenities.

H.F. Verwoerd – South African Prime Minister who expanded apartheid policies, focusing on completely separating the races through grand apartheid measures.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) – Founded in 1909, the NAACP fought against racial injustice by supporting landmark legal cases and helping pass civil rights legislation.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) – A grassroots civil rights organization formed by college students in 1960, advocating for nonviolent protest and focusing on voter registration in the rural South.

Malcolm X – A civil rights leader and member of the Nation of Islam who advocated for Black empowerment and self-defense, promoting the idea of achieving power “by any means necessary.”

Chief Albert Luthuli – A nonviolent leader of the ANC who opposed apartheid and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his efforts to promote racial equality in South Africa.

MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe) – The armed wing of the ANC, co-founded by Nelson Mandela, which engaged in sabotage and guerrilla tactics against apartheid government structures.

Indigenous – Refers to the native peoples of South Africa, such as the Khoe-San, who originally inhabited the land before colonial rule.

Stay-away – A term used to describe a mass general strike, where workers would stay home from work to protest, such as the May Stayaway in 1950 against apartheid.

Sit-ins – A nonviolent form of protest where activists would occupy segregated public spaces, such as lunch counters, to demand equal treatment.

Freedom Charter – A declaration of the goals of the Congress of the People in South Africa, calling for equal rights and the end of apartheid, which led to the Treason Trials.

Miscegenation – Refers to relationships or marriages between different racial groups, which was heavily policed and banned under apartheid.

Thurgood Marshall – A prominent NAACP lawyer who won key civil rights cases like Brown v. Board of Education and became the first African American Supreme Court justice.

Afrikaners – Descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa who supported apartheid policies and made up a large portion of the white population, primarily associated with the Dutch Reformed Church.