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Apartheid in South Africa

Suitable for: Key stage 4, Key stage 5

Time period: Postwar 1945-present

Curriculum topics: Diverse histories

Suggested inquiry questions: What do these sources infer about the legislation implementing apartheid? What do they show about the impact of the system on all racial groups in South African society? What do the documents reveal about strategies of grand and petty apartheid? Do any of the sources infer criticism or resistance to these laws? What does the legislation reveal about the ambitions of the National Party?

Potential activities: Write profiles of Jan Christiaan Smuts; Dr Malan; Hendrik Verwoerd; Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe. Research: Meadowlands township (Soweto); the Treason Trial and its significance; African National Congress (ANC); the Youth League and the Defiance Campaign; the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). What were the international pressures to challenge apartheid in South Africa 1948-59?

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Tasks
Background
Teachers' notes
External links
Connections to Curriculum

The term apartheid comes from the Afrikaans word meaning ‘separation’. This system implemented political, social, and economic segregation on racial grounds in South Africa. It ensured domination by the white minority population and discrimination against the non-white majority.

D.F. Malan, Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa (1948-1954) for the National Party, introduced apartheid in 1948. It meant that white citizens held the highest status, then ‘Coloureds (mixed-race)’ and ‘Black Africans’. Apartheid was contrary to all notions of equality. It was the intention of the government to separate and divide different tribal groups, confining them to specific areas or Bantustans.

This lesson uses original documents to consider some of the main legislative steps taken to create a system of apartheid in South Africa. What was the impact and consequences of apartheid for Black, White and ‘Coloured’ South Africans?

Please note that the language used in these sources is often inappropriate and offensive. We have included it as part of the historical record.

Tasks

Task 1: Mixed marriages, 1949

Source 1a:

Letter from Lourenco Marques, British Consulate General, Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) to the Foreign Office, 28 November 1949, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/2229

What type of document is this?
Why has the British Consul asked for clarification on (a) the law concerning mixed marriages (b) his own position?
Why is this letter held by the Dominions Office collections at The National Archives?
What legislation carried out by the South African government is referred to in the letter?
What does the letter infer about the impact of this legislation?
How can this law be regarded as an instrument of apartheid?

Source 1b:

Extract from a Cabinet memorandum by Patrick Gordon Walker, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 25 September 1950, Catalogue Ref: CAB 129/42

Why has this Cabinet Memorandum been circulated to the Cabinet?
What according to this source is the result of a ‘programme of Apartheid’?
Why is the Group Area’s Act described as the ‘kernel of Apartheid’?
Who is Dr Malan?
What is the connection between laws about preventing mixed marriages and the Group Areas Act which followed it?
How useful are Cabinet papers in finding out about South Africa in the 1950s?

Source 1a

Source 1b

Task 2: Population Registration Act, 1950

Source 2:

Extract from booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

What information will be used to create a register of the population for the Act?
What other measure was also introduced as part of the Population Registration Act?
Why were these laws introduced?
How do these laws re-enforce the segregation resulting from the Mixed Marriage Act?
Why is this legislation for racial classification in this way so repressive?
What do you think about the evidence provided in this source?

Source 2

Task 3: Group Areas Act, 1950

Source 3a:

Extract from a report by the High Commissioner to the Commonwealth Relations Office, 13 December 1950, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3260

What was the purpose and impact of the Group Areas Act 1950, and earlier legislation concerning African settlement?
Why have many Africans been ‘segregated in native locations’?
What steps could the National Government take for ‘easing of racial relations in South Africa’?
Why does the High Commissioner suggest that nothing is likely to improve living and working conditions for the African population?
What is the value of reports from the High Commissioner to the Commonwealth Relations Office?
Find out more about the recommendations of the Fagan Commission.
What other types of sources would be useful to find out about the impact of the Group Areas Act 1950?

Source 3b:

Extract from the High Commissioner’s report on Durban with map and a caption, June 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3260

Why do you think the Group Areas Act prevented ‘the transfer of the ownership or occupation of any land or premises to person of a different race’?
Where is Durban located in South Africa?
Use the map to find: ‘High Class European Residential Fringe’; ‘Umlazi Reserve’; ‘High class residential European Area’; ‘Indian Occupied’ ‘Cato Manor (Mixed Indian & Native)’; ‘Chesterville (Native)’, ‘Sherwood (European)’.
What do these different locations reveal about segregation within the city of Durban?
What does the map reveal about the social and economic position of Indian and African communities?

Source 3c:

Extract from an internal memo from the Union to the High Commissioner, 19 May 1952 concerning removals from Johannesburg and Cape town, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3260

What do you think is meant by the term Johannesburg ‘black spots’?
How many inhabitants have Johannesburg City Council agreed to remove?
Why do you think the City Council rejected the Government’s plan to refuse ‘to grant Natives freehold rights in the new townships’?
What is the impact of the Group Areas Act on Durban for ‘Europeans’, ‘Indians’ and ‘Native’ communities?
How does this source add to your understanding of effects of the Group Areas Act from Sources 3a & 3b?
How do all three sources infer that the Group Area’s Act is the ‘kernel of Apartheid’ [see source 1b]?
Find out about the later forced removals from Sophiatown to Meadowlands, Soweto.

Source 3d:

Map of South Africa. The Times Atlas of the Modern World. Volume IV. Southern Europe & Africa Mid-Century edition. The Times Publishing Company Ltd., Printing House Square, 1956

Use the map to find the following: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Lourenco Marques, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg. Orange Free State, Transvaal, Natal.

Task 4: Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, 1953

Source 4a:

Extract from the Separate Amenities Act, 5 October 1953, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/10560

What are the aims of this legislation?
Look at the photograph at the top of the web page for the lesson. How does it show this law in action?
How does the Separate Amenities Act strengthen earlier apartheid legislation?
How will this law affect life in the South African Union for all communities?
Research the meaning for the term ‘grand apartheid’. How does it apply to other sources of legislation in this lesson?
Compare the Separate Amenities Act to the ‘Jim Crow laws’ (a derogatory term used to refer to African Americans) which had enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Source 4b:

Sign entitled ‘For use by White Persons’ designating the use of amenities during apartheid, (undated) Wikimedia Commons

How does this source link to the legislation outlined in Source 4a?
What is the purpose of this sign?
Where do you think it could have been displayed?
How would the creation of separate facilities for different races increase division and inequality in South Africa?

Source 4c:

Extract from High Commissioner’s report concerning racial beach zoning in Durban, South Africa, October 1955, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6716

Look at the map of Durban in Source 3b to find the coastline.
What does racial beach zoning in Durban show about the Separate Amenities Act in action?
What does the report extract reveal about the nature of segregation?
Can you suggest why the ‘European Beach’ is located where ‘all the hotels are situated’?

Source 4d:

Photographs showing official notices used in entrances for public buildings and photograph of man in a post office entitled ‘Apartheid at the Post Office Johannesburg’ from a booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

These signs were displayed before the Separate Amenities Act 1953, (see date of source). What does this reveal about segregation in the South African Union at that time?
What is the purpose of these notices?
In what type of building do you think they would be displayed?
Why do you think there is also reference to ‘Hawkers’, ‘Prams & Dogs’ as well as ‘non-Europeans’?
What can we learn from the photograph entitled ‘Apartheid at the Post Office Johannesburg’?
Why do you think these photographs come from a booklet produced by Foreign Relations Society of India?
What is the value of photographs over written reports to historians?
What other sources could be used to research the significance of the Amenities Act, apart from Sources 4a-d?

Task 5: Suppression of Communism Act, 1950

Source 5a:

Extracts from booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

What is the government’s definition of communism according to this document?
What are the main consequences of this legislation for political rights and freedoms in South Africa?
How will the press be affected by this legislation?
How does the law allow the government to pursue its policy of apartheid?
Find out more about the Treason Trial and its connection to this law.

Source 5b:

An article from the Daily Worker entitled ‘Africans & Indians to Unite’, 23 December 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

What news story is reported in the ‘Daily Worker’?
Explain why the laws mentioned are regarded as ‘legitimate grievances of the majority of the South African people’?
How useful is this source for understanding resistance to the Suppression of Communism Act?
What does the source reveal about the role of the African National Congress in South Africa?
What can you find out about ‘the Daily Worker’ (U.K.) newspaper?
What can you find out about press freedom in South Africa during apartheid in the 1950s.

Source 5a

Source 5b

Task 6: The pass laws in the 1950s

Source 6a:

Photograph showing a South African Police officer checking the ‘dompas’ of a man. Such passes were used as a means of controlling the movement of the majority of South Africans within urban areas. According to apartheid ideology, Black people were only allowed to be in the cities and towns if they carried such pass books. This was part of the ‘Grand Apartheid’ scheme of ‘Influx Control’. Black workers were required to always carry their ‘dompas’ and were subject to spot checks. Date, unknown. © African Pictures: Ref: APN754096, ANC Archives.

Why do you think this photograph is held by the ANC (African National Congress) Archives?
What does the photograph suggest about the nature and impact of the pass laws?
How does the photograph relate to source 6b?

Source 6b:

Extract of a memorandum entitled ‘The development of Union Native Policy since 1935’, 1950 Catalogue Ref: DO 35/ 4326

Can you suggest why this document was produced?
What details given in these extracts suggest that the pass system was so repressive for Black South Africans?
What has been the effect of the constant harassment caused by the pass system?
Explain how these regulations were part of the ‘Grand Apartheid’ scheme of ‘Influx Control’.

Source 6c:

Photograph shows Women’s March of 1956 organized by the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). The march of around 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, was in protest of the introduction of pass laws by the apartheid government. Eli Weinberg, ANC Archives © African Pictures Ref: APN753315

What information does this photograph provide about resistance to the pass laws?
What is the value of this source to historians of the system of apartheid in South Africa?
Why do you think this photograph is held by a collection in the ANC [African National Congress] Archives?
How do sources 6a-6c provide understanding of the impact of the pass laws? What other sources would be useful?

Source 6d:

Parliamentary question in the House of Commons UK with supplementary notes, 26 March 1960, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/10578

Why do you think a question about ‘citizens of United Kingdom and Colonies and British protected persons living in the Union of South Africa’ was asked in the British parliament?
What is the official response to this question?
Is there any significance that this question was asked in March 1960?
What is the value of parliamentary questions relating to this topic?
What does the supplementary information in the extract suggest about emergence of the pass laws?

Task 7: Bantu Education Act, 1953

Source 7a:

(i) Extract from High Commissioner’s Report No.24 on the education Bill, 7 August 1953, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6716

What are the main criticisms of the Bantu Education Bill according to this document extract?
How can this bill be regarded as an attempt to reinforce apartheid in education?
Find out the terms of Extension of Universities Act 1959. How did this impact higher education for Black Africans?
This extract comments on a ‘bill’. How does a ‘bill’ differ from an ‘Act’?

(ii) Extract from High Commissioner’s Report No.31 on the education Act, November 1954, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6716

What are the effects of the Bantu Education Act expressed in this extract?
What does it reveal about the reception of this law?
Find out more about the origin and position of mission schools in South Africa.
Why do you think this report was produced by the High Commissioner in 1954?

Source 7b:

Extract from an article entitled ‘Plans for new S. African Black Communities’ from ‘The Times’, 28 March 1956, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/4382

Why has ‘Christ the King’ Primary school been forced to close?
What does this newspaper article reveal about religious involvement in African schools?
What is the view of Canon Collins on the closure of the school?
Why do you think this newspaper clipping is in The National Archives Dominions Office collections?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of newspapers as sources for historians?

Source 7c:

Extracts on the subject of education from the Freedom Charter © Courtesy of Historical Papers Research Archive, University of the Witwatersrand Library, South Africa.

Why do you think these aspirations, concerning education are highlighted in the Freedom Charter?
Chose any THREE points from the Charter. Explain what each means and why it is significant. Discuss with a partner.
Find out more about the launch of the Freedom Charter in June 1955.

Source 7d:

Photograph captioned ‘In Meadowlands there are well built schools, but in Sophiatown, a few miles away, children will make do with education in a cluttered backyard’.

This photograph appeared in a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 2. Beyond the White Barriers’, 12 January 1958, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6715

What does this photograph infer about the state of education in 1958 in Sophiatown for Black Africans? Explain your answer.
How does this source relate to the Freedom Charter in Source 7c?
What can you find out about Meadowlands mentioned in the caption?
Why do you think this photograph was taken?

Source 7a

Source 7b

Source 7c

Task 8: Separate Development & the Tomlinson Report

Source 8a:

Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 1. Where Apartheid leads’, 5 January 1958, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6715

What was the purpose of the Tomlinson Commission?
What does the term ‘Separate development’ mean? What would be the alternative?
What is the main recommendation of the Tomlinson Commission according to this article?
What is are the implications of this plan for Black Africans?

Source 8b:

Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 1. Where Apartheid leads’, 5 January 1958, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6715

Why according to this article, would Bantu peoples object to ‘Separate development’?
Why have many Africans left the reserves over time?
What proportion of the Bantu population remain in the reserves at the time of this article?

Source 8c:

Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 2. Beyond the White Barriers’, 12 January 1958, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/6715

What does a policy of ‘Separate development’ assume in this article?
Why is Separate development’ unacceptable to most Africans?
How would this policy fail in economic terms?
Which source 8a-8c provides the most evidence concerning the impact of Separate Development?
What other sources would be important to consult?

Source 8a

Source 8b

Source 8c

Background

South Africa became a Union with independence from the British Empire in 1910. It consisted of two Afrikaner (Dutch dominated republics) the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British dominated Cape Province and the Natal Province. The Afrikaners and the English speakers (roughly 60 and 40 percent respectively) controlled the country. It meant that given the aspirations of the vast Black majority together with other races, including an Indian population, were completely ignored in the new Union.

With the Union, the South Africa Act removed Black people’s right to vote in Parliament and the Pass Regulations Act denied them the right to vote. Only the Cape Province insisted on retaining voting rights for Blacks and others on a basis of a property qualifying franchise. The Afrikaner republics granted no political rights for Blacks and Natal was scarcely less conservative. After 1910 what little rights remained for non-European peoples began to be chipped away. The 1913 Natives Land Act severely restricted Black South Africans from owning or renting land outside of designated “native reserves”, laying the groundwork for racial segregation and apartheid (separateness). A 1923 Act (Native (Urban Areas) Act created an internal passport system restricting movement of non-Europeans. Successive onslaughts on black rights increased with the growth of Afrikaner Nationalism under the Nationalist party of James Hertzog, who realised that Afrikaners formed 60% of the white community and could exploit white conservatism to control the country. Afrikaner nationalism developed confidence in the inter-war period emboldened by their Dutch Reform Church faith and Broederbond (brotherhood) emphasising the alleged racial superiority of Europeans over Black South Africans. Many Afrikaners also opposed South Africa’s entry on the allied side during the Second World War.

In law, apartheid began long before 1948 and the election of the National Party. Although clauses of the 1910 Constitution regarding voting rights for ‘Coloureds’ (Mixed races) were not amended until the 1950s, the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act expanded existing restrictions on Black land ownership by establishing the South African Native Trust to manage land for Black people, limiting where they could live and own land. Moreover, the Asiatic Land Tenure Act 1946 sought to confine Asian ownership and occupation of land to certain clearly defined areas of towns. By the late 1940s such legislation led to the growth of shantytowns on the outskirts of white cities occupied by poor blacks dependent upon jobs in the cities. The National Party campaigned to protect white Afrikaans ‘purity’ and eliminate the already meagre rights of non-Europeans through legislative separation so what happened automatically before, became law.

To preserve racial purity, the Apartheid government passed the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act 1949 preventing marriage between people of different races. The Population Registration Act (1950) created a national system of racial classification: ‘white’, ‘native’, ‘coloured’ and later ‘Indian’ that determined which rights an individual would be able to enjoy. This included where a person could live, if they had to carry a passbook to travel and the education available to them.

The Group Areas Act 1950 was the nationalist government’s first attempt to increase the separation between white and black urban residential areas. The law was both a continuation of earlier laws of segregation but also a realisation of an apartheid ideal that cultures should be allowed to develop separately. The new law declared many historically black urban areas officially white, forcing people to move out of a specific area. The act also controlled the transfer of land/property and only allowing people to buy land from people of the same race. The act also restricted trading licences prohibiting Asians from trading in white areas. Later legislation (Native Resettlement Act 1954) authorised the government to force out residents and demolish buildings to make room for white owned residences and businesses. However, white South Africans relied upon cheap Black labour and the removal of millions of Bantu workers would be expensive according to the government sponsored Tomlinson Report of 1954.

The Separate Amenities Act 1953 legalised the racial segregation of public premises, vehicles and services. Part of the act stated that facilities for the different races did not need to be equal and that some services could be completely excluded based on their race. Public Toilets, buses, railway carriages, Post Office entrances as well as parks and beaches were typically segregated.

The Passbook system regulating where non-Europeans could travel from and to already existed before 1948, it was now expanded and formalised. An act of 1952 repealed regional passes and instituted one nationwide pass law, making it compulsory for all black south Africans males over the age of 16 to carry the passbook whilst within white areas. This internal passport (containing a photograph and details of employment) stipulated where, when and for how long a person could remain. The passbook provided the authorities with the excuse to detain black people at will.

Other pieces of apartheid legislation were enacted to enforce separation of the races such as the Bantu Authorities Act (1951) and Bantu Self Government Act (1959) creating “homelands” for black South Africans, known as Bantustans, giving the appearance of self-government but stripping them of their national citizenship.

Thus by 1959 the system of Apartheid was consolidated. In response to such oppression the non-European population of South Africa began to resist, by agreeing a Freedom Charter for all South Africans embracing equality, which would lead to a “Treason Trial” of those opposing apartheid doctrine.

Teachers' notes

This lesson using original documents can be used to support GCE units at A Level for AQA, Edexcel and OCR and GCSE Edexcel.

This lesson explores the implementation of apartheid 1948-1959 in the South African Union. Students will be able find out about the application of grand and petty apartheid through legislation. It is important to note that we have not included every piece of legislation and hope the lesson will form part of their own course of study. This lesson is a part of a series on the history of South Africa. Our first covered the South African War. A third on African nationalism and resistance to apartheid will follow.

It is important to note that the documents cover sensitive subjects. Some include language and concepts that are entirely unacceptable and inappropriate today. We have included this language as part of the historical record. We suggest that teachers look at the material carefully before introducing to students.

It is also worth highlighting the issue of perspective during this lesson. Most sources come from a British government perspective in the Dominions Office or Foreign Office. Other sources include photographs from South African photographic archival collections. What other sources of information could be used to explore the establishment of the apartheid state?

Teachers may wish to break the documents into smaller extracts if they appear too long or create additional simplified transcripts.

Students should be encouraged to read the relevant titled ‘Background’ section to help with the source context.

Encourage them to ‘look behind the source’. Where has the record come from and why has it been created? Does it offer a national or local perspective? What is the difference between a government report or a newspaper? What is the value of oral testimony? What type of sources help with specific investigations?

Encourage students to consider both the ‘witting’ and ‘unwitting’ testimony a source may reveal. Part of this evaluation is to consider if there are any gaps in the evidence or issues of accuracy in authorship. Why would we trust/not trust this source? What other sources might be needed to provide additional information/context? Does the document support other knowledge that you already have for a certain line of enquiry? Use the document prompt questions to promote discussion of the content.

Sources

Illustration Image: Photograph with apartheid sign, Johannesburg. Title: ‘Love Story’ Sophiatown, Johannesburg,1954 by Bob Gosani. © African Pictures: ref: APN32327, (Bailey’s African History Archive.)

Source 1a: Letter from British Consul General Lourenco Marques British, Consulate General (Mozambique) to the Foreign Office, 28 November 1949, Catalogue ref: DO 35/2229

Source 1b: Extract from a Cabinet memorandum by Patrick Gordon Walker, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 25 September 1950, Catalogue ref: CAB 129/42

Source 2: Extract from booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

Source 3a: Extract from a report by the High Commissioner to the Commonwealth Relations Office, 13 December 1950, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3260

Source 3b: Extract from the High Commissioner’s report on Durban with map and a caption Catalogue ref: DO 35/3260 June 1951

Source 3c: Extract from an internal memo from the Union to the High Commissioner, 19 May 1952 concerning removals from Johannesburg and Cape town, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3260

Source 4a: Extract from the Separate Amenities Act, 5 October 1953, Catalogue ref: DO 35/10560

Source 4b: Sign entitled ‘For use by White Persons’ designating the use of amenities during apartheid, (undated) Wikimedia Commons

Source 4c: Extract from High Commissioner’s report concerning racial beach zoning in Durban, South Africa, October 1955, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6716

Source 4d: Photographs showing official notices used in entrances for public buildings and photograph of man in a post office entitled ‘Apartheid at the Post Office Johannesburg’ from a booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

Source 5a: Extracts from booklet entitled ‘Apartheid: Racial Discrimination’ published on behalf of the Indian Government by the Foreign Relations Society of India, circa 1951, Catalogue Ref: DO 35/3837

Source 5b: An article from the Daily Worker entitled ‘Africans & Indians to Unite’, 23 December 1951, Catalogue ref: DO 35/3837

Source 6a: Photograph showing a South African Police officer checking the ‘dompas’ of a man. © African Pictures: ref: APN754096, ANC Archives.

Source 6b: Extract of a memorandum entitled ‘The development of Union Native Policy since 1935’, 1950 Catalogue ref: DO 35/ 4326

Source 6c: Photograph of Women’s March of 1956 organized by the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). Eli Weinberg, ANC Archives © African Pictures Image Number: APN753315

Source 6d: Parliamentary question in the House of Commons UK with supplementary notes, 26 March 1960, Catalogue ref DO 35/10578

Source 7a: Extract from High Commissioner’s Report No.24 on the education Bill, 7 August 1953, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6716; Extract from High Commissioner’s Report No.31 on the education Act, November 1954, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6716

Source 7b: Extract from an article entitled ‘Plans for new S. African Black Communities’ from ‘The Times’, 28 March 1956, Catalogue ref: DO 35/4382

Source 7c: Extracts from the Freedom Charter © Courtesy of Historical Papers Research Archive, University of the Witwatersrand Library, South Africa.

Source 7d: Photograph entitled ‘In Meadowlands there are well built schools, but in Sophiatown, a few miles away, children will make do with education in a cluttered backyard’ from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 2. Beyond the White Barriers’, 12 January 1958, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6715

Source 8a: Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 1. Where Apartheid leads’, 5 January 1958, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6715

Source 8b: Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 1. Where Apartheid leads’, 5 January 1958, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6715

Source 8c: Extract from a Sunday Times article by Iain Lang entitled ‘Tragic South Africa: 2. Beyond the White Barriers’, 12 January 1958, Catalogue ref: DO 35/6715

External links

South African Apartheid 1948-1994
AM Digital’s Collection of Sources from the National Archives

South African History Online
More documents and useful timelines

African Pictures
Photographs from African collections

Connections to Curriculum

Key stage 4

OCR GCSE History

South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State: The consolidation of Apartheid – Separate Development and the establishment of the Bantustans; nature and extent of support for Apartheid; methods used by government to maintain the Apartheid regime.

Key stage 5

AQA GCE History

‘The winds of change’, 1947–1967 the growth of nationalist movements and reactions to them.

OCR GCE History

Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999

Edexcel GCE History

South Africa, 1948–94: from apartheid state to ‘rainbow nation’