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Natives Land Act
The Natives Land Act prohibited blacks in South Africa from owning or renting land outside of designated reserves, and also prevented the sale of land between blacks and whites. These reserves designated for blacks made up only 7% of the land in South Africa, and all of the better and more fertile land was given to the whites. This law was significant in that it segregated blacks and whites in terms of territory, and clearly put blacks at a disadvantage. -
Immorality Act
This act prohibited sexual intercourse/affairs outside of marriage between blacks and whites. Penalties for this crime consisted of up to five years in prison for men and up to four for women, and those who knew of affairs and allowed areas to be used for affairs could also be punished. This act displayed how strongly the opposition to these affairs were, even though interracial marriages and affairs were very uncommon at the time. -
Development Trust and Land Act
This act extended the reserve territory established by the Natives Land Act from 7% of the arable land in South Africa to 13.6%. This act also eliminated black spots, which were areas of black-owned land surrounded by areas of white-owned land. This act was significant in that it added to the amount of land designated by the Natives Land Act, but the amount of land designated for reserves for blacks was still very small. -
Natives Consolidation Act
This act made it so that blacks who were deemed to be living idle lives or those who had committed certain offences could be removed from living in urban areas in South Africa. This act was significant in that it began the removal of blacks from South African cities, and enforced the idea that city areas were for whites only. -
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act
This act prohibited marriages and sexual relationships between whites and members of other racial groups. This act demonstrated the pettiness of many apartheid laws, since only a very small percentage of all marriages in South Africa were interracial. -
Immorality Amendment Act
This act extended the 1927 Immorality Act to prohibit affairs between whites and all non-whites (including Asians and colored people). -
Population Registration Act
This act required people to be identified and classified as either White, Colored, Indian, or Black based on their physical characteristics. All citizens were given identity documents that include their determined race, even though many people were often wrongly racially classified. This act was significant in that it was a basis for future apartheid acts that caused non-white racial groups to lose rights. -
Native Building Workers Act
This act limited the places where skilled black workers could work, and prohibited blacks from working alongside white workers in urban areas. This act made it clear that the government sought to protect the interests of the white workers only. -
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act
This act allowed for public facilities and transport to be segregated by race groups. The act stated that the separate facilities didn't need to be equal, and the facilities for non-whites were far inferior to the facilities for whites. This act was significant in that it further worsened public conditions for non-whites, and greatly limited their access to urban facilities like libraries and concert halls, since there weren't equivalents for them. -
Native Education Act
This act formalized segregation in schools and created separate single race schools. The schools for blacks were very inferior to the schools for whites, and they aimed to teach only basic skills that would allow them to serve their own people or work under whites as unskilled laborers. This act was significant in that it strictly separated all races, and led to further racial separation in Universities. -
Natives Resettlement Act
This act established a resettlement board that forcibly removed blacks from townships in and around Johannesburg and Sophiatown and forced them to relocate. -
General Law Amendment Act
This act allowed for anyone suspected of political crimes to be detained and held for up to 90 days without trial and without access to a lawyer. People detained were often released before the 90 days and re-detained later. State powers also had the power to ban people and restrict them to certain areas after their detention. This act highlighted the unfair treatment of blacks, as they weren't given access to lawyers, were often arrested without warrants, and over 60 people died in detention.
