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Due to apartheid, South Africa is removed from the United Nations. South Africa is not allowed back into the United Nations until apartheid ends in 1994.
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The government passes new laws to create separate homelands, called Bantustans, for the major black groups in the country. The government does this to stop blacks from being citizens of South Africa.
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Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist, is arrested with several other people for fighting against apartheid. He is charged with treason, but after a four-year trial he is found not guilty.
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Volunteers begin a peaceful resistance to apartheid by breaking the laws they think are wrong. The peaceful protests include black people sitting on benches marked for white people only and being out in the city after the curfew set for blacks.
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Apartheid begins after the 1948 general election.
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A law is passed that creates a separate education system for blacks and whites. Blacks are trained to prepare them for a life as part of the working class since it is not expected that they will be allowed to do anything more than that.
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Apartheid requires blacks to carry passbooks, which contain personal information such as name, date of birth, and photos. When protestors show up at the Sharpeville police station without their passbooks, a riot breaks out and police kill 69 people.
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Mandela was the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, part of the African National Congress. He is arrested for his role in bombing government targets and sentenced to life in prison.
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Prime Minister Ian Smith announces that Rhodesia has broken away from Great Britain and that whites will control the government. Great Britain had been prepared to only grant independence if blacks were given some of the power in government.
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High school students in Soweto start a protest for an improved education system for blacks. Police break up the protest with tear gas and bullets, killing more than 600 people.
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Even though he supported segregation at one time, President Frederick Willem de Klerk lifts the ban on the African National Congress in 1990. In 1993, de Klerk wins the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for helping end apartheid.
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In the country's first election that allowed both whites and blacks to vote, Nelson Mandela is elected president of South Africa. He is the first black president in the history of South Africa.
