Apartheid in South Africa

Rebecca Biel

Johnson HS in St. Paul, MN

Grades 9-12

Lesson 5

Theme: Apartheid

Grade Level: 9-12

Title: Case Study #2: Apartheid in South Africa

Overview: Students will be learning about apartheid in South Africa

Time: three 90-minute periods

Subjects: Human Geography

Required Materials

Apartheid laws

http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm

Maps of South Africa showing the division of whites and coloreds

Copy of the video ‘A Dry White Season’

Optional Technologies:

Objectives: Students will become familiar with apartheid in South Africa.

Suggested Procedure

Start out by reviewing with the students the history of colonized South Africa. They should know the Dutch were the first to colonize the area, but were pushed out by the British, creating a struggle for power between these two groups. Dutch nationalists won control of the government in 1948 and began instituting laws that went beyond racial separation underneath the British. Use a K-W-L chart to find out what students ‘Know about apartheid. Next, they will be looking up apartheid laws to answer ‘What’ were the characteristics of apartheid. Third, they will be critically assessing neighborhood maps of South African cities to see how the races were divided. Finally, the students will be watching the video ‘A Dry White Season’ to look at daily life under apartheid. To complete the ‘Learn” of the chart, each student will answer essay questions about apartheid.

Opening

Review with the students the European countries that colonized South Africa. They should know the Dutch were the first to colonize the area, but were pushed out by the British, creating a struggle for power between these two groups. Dutch nationalists won control of the government in 1948 and began instituting laws that went beyond racial separation underneath the British. Draw a K-W-L chart on the board or use an overhead. Brainstorm with the students what they know about apartheid. Put this information in the ‘Know’ column.

Development

The students will be using the internet to find out information about laws passed under apartheid. Assign each student a different law to look up:

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949

Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950; amended in 1957 (Act 23)

Population Registration Act, Act No 30 of 1950

Group Areas Act, Act No 41 of 1950
Suppression of Communism Act, Act No 44 of 1950

Bantu Building Workers Act, Act No 27 of 1951

Separate Representation of Voters Act, Act No 46 of 1951

Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, Act No 52 of 1951

Bantu Authorities Act, Act No 68 of 1951
Natives Laws Amendment Act of 1952

Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, Act No 67 of 1952
Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act of 1953
Bantu Education Act, Act No 47 of 1953
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, Act No 49 of 1953
Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954

Group Areas Development Act, Act No 69 of 1955

Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act, Act No 64 of 1956

Bantu Investment Corporation Act, Act No 34 of 1959

Extension of University Education Act, Act 45 of 1959
Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, Act No 46 of 1959

Preservation of Coloured Areas Act, Act No 31 of 1961

Terrorism Act of 1967
Bantu Homelands Citizens Act of 1970

Bring the students back to class and share the information together. The information they gathered can be put in the ‘What’ column on the K-W-L chart.

Next, critically assess maps that show what South Africa looked like after the Group Areas Act.

Image No. 4: Apartheid was a legalized form of segregation implemented in South Africa to achieve a complete or nearly complete separation of races. Here we see examples of urban apartheid. Apartheid involved a forced movement of groups to accomplish the desired segregation. These illustrations show the ideal pattern and the changes that occurred in two cities. Figure 2A shows the ideal form with total separation, each group living in a sector. The tip of the sector pointed to the center city and the broad portion opened onto the countryside. The black population was to be on the side of the city toward the black homelands. Other illustrations show Pretoria and Durban before and after the implementation of segregation.

Image No. 5: A close-up of the model. Apartheid designers called for sharp landscape barriers between the racial groups such as the CBD, railways, highways and other features of the landscape. In this case, physical barriers such as the river were used to divide the groups. The coloured and Asian populations were a ‘buffer” that separated whites from blacks. Blacks were separated from the Indians by the industrial landscape and from the coloreds by a physical barrier.

Image No. 6: Pretoria in 1951 before the implementation of urban apartheid. You can see the scattered patterns of racial settlement.

Image No. 7: Pretoria in 1970 after the implementation of apartheid. There was a large-scale movement of people of color to produce consolidated patterns.

1. What groups are identified in the maps?

2. Where were whites predominately located? Why?

3. Why is map 2a ‘ideal’?

4. Why were Indians and Mixed often placed between White and Black?

5. Compare map 1a to 2c, what changes happened in Pretoria, South Africa between 1951 and 1970.

Next, the students will be watching “A Dry White Season’ about apartheid in South Africa. Periodically stop the video to discuss what is happening, especially when laws that the students looked up are applicable.

Close

As a class, complete the ‘Learn’ part of the K-W-L chart. To check for understanding, assign two essay questions that each student must answer in complete sentences.

1. Describe how Blacks were treated by the justice system in South Africa. Mention at least two laws enacted and examples from the video “A Dry White Season”.
2. Describe the difference in the lifestyle of Blacks and Whites, such as jobs, homes, transportation and schools. Specifically include the effect of the Group Areas Act.