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: Diamond mining begins in South Africa. Africans are given the most dangerous jobs, are paid far less than white workers, and are housed in fenced, patrolled barracks. Oppressive conditions and constant surveillance keep Africans from organizing for better wages and working conditions.
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The South Africa Act takes away all political rights of Africans in three of the country's four states.
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fewer than 30% of Africans are receiving any formal education, and whites are earning over five times as much as Africans.
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Alan Paton finnished his book "Cry, The beloved Country" and it was published in 1948.
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C: Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
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The Population Registration Act. This law classifies people into three racial groups: white, colored (mixed race or Asian), and native (African/black). Marriages between races are outlawed in order to maintain racial purity
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NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time.
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Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made the first president. January 1957
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James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
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Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham
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The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote.
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The black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton
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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.