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apartheid put into action by national party
. Frightened by increasing black activism and fueled by racism, they passed a series of laws to make the oppression of black South Africans perfectly legal. -
Mixed Marriages Act
guaranteeing marriage equality for same-sex and interracial couples under federal law -
Population Registration Act
required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid. -
Sharpeville Massacre
The South African Police (SAP) opened fire on the crowd when the crowd started advancing toward the fence around the police station; 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 fled. -
Rivonia Trial
Charges were: recruiting persons for training in the preparation and use of explosives and in guerrilla warfare for the purpose of violent revolution and committing acts of sabotage. conspiring to commit the aforementioned acts and to aid foreign military units when they invaded the Republic. -
Prime Minister Hendrick Verwood is Assasinated
a deranged white farmer shot Verwoerd in an assassination attempt that failed. -
Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act
defined Blacks living throughout South Africa as legal citizens of the homelands designated for their particular ethnic groups -
Township Uprising
the uprising lasted two years and affected most regions of the country. -
Nelson Mandela Released from prison
On 10 February 1990, President De Klerk met Mandela to tell him he was going to be released the next day. -
Nelson Mandela becomes president
The African National Congress won a 63 percent share of the vote at the election, and Mandela, as leader of the ANC, was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 as the country's first Black President