What was apartheid?
Apartheid was the official policy of the National Party which came to power in 1948 in South Africa. It was the practice of official racial segregation. Under apartheid everyone in South Africa had to be classified according to a particular racial group. This determined where someone could be born, where they could live, where they could go to school, where they could work, where they could be treated if they were sick and where they could be buried when they died. Only white people could vote and they had the best opportunities and the most money spent on their facilities. Apartheid made others live in poverty. Black South Africans’ lives were strictly controlled. Many thousands of people died in the struggle to end apartheid.
Apartheid was the official policy of the National Party, which came to power in 1948 in South Africa. It was the practice of official racial segregation. Under apartheid everyone in South Africa had to be classified according to a particular racial group. This determined where someone could be born, where they could live, where they could go to school, where they could work, where they could be treated if they were sick and where they could be buried when they died. Only white people could vote and they had the best opportunities and the most money spent on their facilities. Apartheid made others live in poverty. Black South Africans’ lives were strictly controlled. Many thousands of people died in the struggle to end apartheid.
