Compare the lives of black Americans prior to the civil rights movement to the lives of black South Africans living under apartheid. How were their experiences similar or different?

The segregation began in 1948 after the National Party came to power. The nationalist political party instituted policies of white supremacy, which empowered white South Africans who descended from both Dutch and British settlers in South Africa while further disenfranchising black Africans.

The system was rooted in the country’s history of colonization and slavery. White settlers had historically viewed black South Africans as a natural resource to be used to turn the country from a rural society to an industrialized one. Starting in the 17th century, Dutch settlers relied on slaves to build up South Africa. Around the time that slavery was abolished in the country in 1863, gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa.

Many white women in South Africa learned how to use firearms for self-protection in the event of racial unrest in 1961, when South Africa became a republic.
Many white women in South Africa learned how to use firearms for self-protection in the event of racial unrest in 1961, when South Africa became a republic.
Dennis Lee Royle/AP Photo
That discovery represented a lucrative opportunity for white-owned mining companies that employed—and exploited—black workers. Those companies all but enslaved black miners while enjoying massive wealth from the diamonds and gold they mined. Like Dutch slave holders, they relied on intimidation and discrimination to rule over their black workers.

The mining companies borrowed a tactic that earlier slaveholders and British settlers had used to control black workers: pass laws. As early as the 18th century, these laws had required members of the black majority, and other people of color, to carry identification papers at all times and restricted their movement in certain areas. They were also used to control black settlement, forcing black people to reside in places where their labor would benefit white settlers.

A “natives” colored white society. Though apartheid was supposedly designed to allow different races to develop on their own, it forced black South Africans into poverty and hopelessness. “Grand” apartheid laws focused on keeping black people in their own designated “homelands.” And “petty” apartheid laws focused on daily life restricted almost every facet of black life in South Africa.

Children from the townships of Langa and Windermere scavenging close to Cape Town, in February 1955.
Children from the townships of Langa and Windermere scavenging close to Cape Town, in February 1955.
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Pass laws and apartheid policies prohibited black people from entering urban areas without immediately finding a job. It was illegal for a black person not to carry a passbook. Black people could not marry white people. They could not set up businesses in white areas. Everywhere from hospitals to beaches was segregated. Education was restricted. And throughout the 1950s, the NP passed law after law regulating the movement and lives of black people.

Though they were disempowered, black South Africans protested their treatment within apartheid. In the 1950s, the African National Congress, the country’s oldest black political party, initiated a mass mobilization against the racists laws, called the Defiance Campaign. Black workers boycotted white businesses, went on strike, and staged non-violent protests.

A crowd at a Johannesburg protest meeting which defied a ban on such gatherings, circa 1952.
A crowd at a Johannesburg protest meeting which defied a ban on such gatherings, circa 1952.
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These acts of defiance were met with police and state brutality. Protesters were beaten and tried en masse in unfair legal proceedings. But though the campaigns took a toll on black protesters, they didn’t generate enough international pressure on the South African government to inspire reforms.

In 1960, South African police killed 69 peaceful protesters in Sharpeville, sparking nationwide dissent and a wave of strikes. A subgroup of protesters who were tired of what they saw as ineffective nonviolent protests began to embrace armed resistance instead. Among them was Nelson Mandela, who helped organize a paramilitary subgroup of the ANC in 1960. He was arrested for treason in 1961, and was sentenced to life in prison for charges of sabotage in 1964.

30,000 protestors march from Langa into Cape Town in South Africa, to demand the release of prisoners in 1960. The prisoners were arrested for protesting against the segregationist pass laws.
30,000 protestors march from Langa into Cape Town in South Africa, to demand the release of prisoners in 1960. The prisoners were arrested for protesting against the segregationist pass.