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Apartheid put into action by national party
Marked the beginning of legalized racism's harshest features called Apartheid. During the early stages of the Cold war. -
Mixed Marriages Act
prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the National Party's rise to power in 1948. -
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
police fired on a crowd of black people, killing or wounding some 250 of them. It was one of the first/most violent acts against apartheid in South Africa. -
Rivonia Trial
A group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested. Eight were convicted to life imprisonment. -
Prime Minister Hendrik Verwood is assassinated
stabbed several times by parliamentary aide Dimitri Tsafendas. -
Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act
made every Black South African, irrespective of actual residence, a citizen of one of the Bantustans. -
Township Uprising
Lasted 2 years and affected most regions. The government of P. W. Botha did not succeed in curbing the violence until after it imposed a national state of emergency in June 1986. -
Nelson Mandela released from prison
He was in prison for 27 years. H e was in prison because he organized an illegal strike and left the country illegally. -
Nelson Mandela becomes president
He was an anti-apartheid activist, leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, lawyer, and former political prisoner.