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Native Land Act of 1913
Regions in South Africa are allocated for natives and blacks, called Bantustans. This forced 75% of the population who were black onto 13% of the total land of South Africa. Only 7% land was arable. It's significance was that this law laid the beginning of apartheid and its systematic and government backed racism and Social Darwinism. -
Population Registration Act of 1950
This act required all citizens/inhabitants of South Africa to register themselves with the government and be classified by their race. This act is significant because it created an easier way of finding nonwhites and allowing them to be forcibly removed. -
Group Areas Act of 1950
The Group Areas Act was created in 1950. This law established that nonwhites/blacks were not allowed to live in urban areas. If a nonwhite had an occupation there, they would have to commute from townships to cities with their passbooks. This law also enforced that people of color were not allowed on "white areas". This is significant as it further deepened the affect on nonwhites during the time of apartheid and led to further forcible removing. -
Bantu Authorities Act of 1951
This created a basis for ethnic government in African homelands/bantustans. The homelands were "independent states" and many rights such as voting became restricted to the "homelands." This is significant because as the population of the ethnics group became citizens of these homelands, they lose their citizenship for South Africa, leading to the loss of any right in the parliament of South Africa. -
Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951
The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951 gave the minister of Native Affairs (department that was run by Verwoerd) the right to remove any nonwhite/black from South African land. This included private and public land, and squatting (inhabiting an empty building) was no longer allowed for blacks. This act also allowed the minister of Native Affairs to relocate and concentrate blacks/nonwhites into resettlement camps. -
Native Act of 1952
The Native Act of 1952 is also known as the Pass Laws act. Before this act, there were 11 laws regarding pass laws, but this law implemented the mandatory carrying of Pass Books by nonwhites. The passbooks contained personal information such as employment records. The significance of this law is that it was made to keep nonwhites out of urban areas and predominantly white areas. This became effective as the population of blacks decreased slowly in urban areas. -
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953
The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953 enforced the strict segregation of amenities between whites and nonwhites in South Africa. These included buses, trains, hospitals, beaches, and even thing such as counters and entrances. Because its nature was so trivial, this is known as the "epitome of petty apartheid" and that was its significance. -
Bantu Education Act of 1953
The Bantu Education Act of 1953 implemented schools that were only allowed to accept one race. Schools that taught blacks were inferior to schools that taught whites-- who received a greater amount of funding. The schools that were created for blacks were under the department of native affairs, which had a curriculum for blacks that catered to prepare them for a life of servitude. -
Natives Resettlement Act of 1954
The Natives Resettlement Act of 1954 allowed for the forced removal of blacks/nonwhites in areas and were led to settle in others places. An example of this act and its significance is Sophiatown. Sophiatown was previously a city where many nonwhites resided, but due to the resettlement act, they were relocated to other areas and the land was bulldozed and passes to travel to Sophiatown were revoked. -
Bantu Self-Governing Act of 1959
The Bantu Self Governing Act of 1959 divided black populations into around 8-10 ethnic groups. These groups were given "self governing" but with a white commission general that would assist the groups until they could be able to self govern on their own. This has a great significance as overtime, black's presence in parliament eventually diminished and there was no black representation left.
