Apartheid

1. Apartheid The term apartheid comes from the Afrikaans word for "apartness". It was coined in the 1930s and used as a political slogan of the National Party in the early 1940s.

2. Racism Made Law

3. Racism Made Law • After the primarily Afrikaner Nationalists came to power in 1948, the social custom of apartheid was systematized under law.

4. Population Registration Act • In cages, blow-ups of the hated 'passbooks'

5. Population Registration Act • The implementation of the policy, later referred to as "separate development," was made possible by the Population Registration Act of 1950, which put all South Africans into three racial categories:

6. Three racial categories • Bantu (black African) • White • Colored (of mixed race) • A fourth category, Asian (Indians and Pakistanis), was added later

7. The Group Areas Act • The Group Areas Act of 1950 assigned races to different residential and business sections in urban areas. • The Land Acts of 1954 and 1955 restricted nonwhite residence to specific areas. These laws further restricted the already limited right of black Africans to own land, entrenching the white minority's control of over 80 percent of South African land.

8. Other Acts • Other laws prohibited most social contacts between the races; • enforced the segregation of public facilities and the separation of educational standards; • created race-specific job categories; • restricted the powers of nonwhite unions; • and curbed nonwhite participation in government.

9. Exclusion of South Africans from politics • The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 and the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 furthered these divisions between the races by creating ten African "homelands" administered by what were supposed to be reestablished "tribal" organizations. The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 made every black South African a citizen of one of the homelands, effectively excluding blacks from South African politics.

10. Athol Fugard • Athol Fugard was born on June 11, 1932, in Middelburgh, a small village in the Karroo district in South Africa. • We are reading his play “Master Harold” . . . and the boys, which he wrote in 1982.

11. Criticism • “Fugard is now in a somewhat anomalous position in South Africa. Blacks have criticized him for dealing with themes that they feel are more properly developed by black writers. At the same time, he is ostracized by white South African society because of his sympathies toward blacks.”

12. Fugard on his work • “I am totally unacceptable, a radical nationalist Afrikaner politician because of the attitudes I have. And I know that both within South Africa now, and certainly in the exiled black community outside of South Africa, I am regarded in a very, very uncertain light. Inside the country my old style liberalism is not radical enough; outside the country I’ve gone on to be an embarrassment because, so far, in terms of theater at least, I appear to have been the only person who has got around to talking about black realities in South Africa, and I’ve got a white skin.”

13. On your paper, answer this question: • Do you think Fugard has a right to explore the world of racism and the victims of this racism even though he is white? Why or why not? You may use examples from literature, history, or film to make your argument. Write a one-paragraph response.