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In 1948, the National Party (NP) won the election in South Africa and began to impose apartheid measures against blacks, Indians and any people of mixed race.
The NP restricted political power to white people only and allocated areas of South Africa for different races of people. Workers, trade unionists and others spoke out on 6 October 1949 against these apartheid measures and began to discuss a possible political strike
In 1950, the ANC started promoting demonstrations, mass action, boycotts, strikes and acts of civil disobedience. During this time, 8,000 black people are arrested "for defying apartheid laws and regulations." The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) worked in partnership with the ANC. The NP used the Population Registration Act to ensure that individuals were permanently classified by race and only allowed to live in areas specified by the Group Areas Act. On 26 June 1950, the National Day of Protest took place. The ANC asked that people not go to work as an act of protest. As a result of the protest, many people lost their jobs and the ANC set up a fund to help them.
The Defiance Campaign was launched on 26 June 1952, the date that became the yearly National Day of Protest and Mourning. The South African police were alerted about the action and were armed and prepared. In major South African cities, people and organizations performed acts of defiance and civil disobedience. The protests were largely non-violent on the parts of the participants, many of whom wore tri-color armbands signifying the ANC. Black volunteers burned their pass books. Other black volunteers would go into places that were considered "whites-only," which was then against the law. These volunteers were arrested, with the most arrests (over 2,000 people) being made in October 1952. When protesters were arrested, they would not defend themselves in court, "leading to large-scale imprisonment." Others who were offered fines as an alternative chose to go to prison. The mass imprisonment, it was hoped, would overwhelm the government.
The Congress of the People was a gathering organised by the National Action Council that later became the Congress Alliance, held in Kliptown on 26 June 1955 to lay out the vision of the South African people. The Freedom Charter was drawn up at the gathering, which was statement of core principles of the Alliance and a symbol of internal resistance against apartheid.
The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. It is characterised by its opening demand, "The People Shall Govern!"
In 1940 South African authorities passed the Electoral Laws Amendment Act, compulsory registration of White voters only.
In early August 1943, the bus fare in Alexandra Township increased from four to five cents, sparking a boycott of 20,000 individuals, including Nelson Mandela. The boycott lasted nine days until the local bus company conceded and lowered the fare back to its original price. Along with the lowered fare, the boycott lead to the commission of inquiry regarding bus fare affordability. The following year, despite the commission's evidence indicating the majority of urban Africans could not afford the five-cent fare, the government gave permission to bus companies to increase the fare to five cents. This caused another boycott, this time lasting seven weeks, in Alexandra.
The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd; some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police, and that the mood had turned "ugly". The South African Police (SAP) opened fire on the crowd when the crowd started advancing toward the fence around the police station, and tear-gas had proved ineffectual. There were 249 victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 people killed and 180 injured. Some were shot in the back as they fle
The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justice, Pretoria.
What was petty apartheid?
Petty or Baasskap Apartheid
"Petty apartheid meant the day-to-day restrictions, such as separate facilities and restrictions - the segregation between the races."
Baasskap meant "boss rule" and connotes the brutal subjugation of the Black majority and the firm and decisive manner with which the government dealt with the anti-apartheid opposition.
"Petty" is suggestive of the officious and unnecessarily fussy nature of many of the apartheid regulations.
Its principal purpose was to ensure the complete domination, economic and political, of White over Black.
What is Grand Apartheid?
"Grand apartheid referred to the overall policy to keep the different races as separated as possible, for example by ensuring that they lived in different areas."
Its main objective was the complete territorial segregation of South Africa, leading ultimately to the full independence of each of its component parts.
The word grand has connotations of loftiness and nobility