history civil rights compared to anti-apartheid movement (1)

Georgia to South Africa

By Tiye Boyd

What was the Apartheid in South Africa?

O Racial Segregation between the 4 main racial groupsO White (Afrikaans), Native (Blacks) ,

Colored, and IndianO Colored-Mixed European and AfricanO Native-Blacks

O Identity Cards given to 18 and olderO Prevent migration & Control the

Population

Goals of the ApartheidO Placement of People by race

O Coloreds were affected by this because it broke families apart

O In 1951 the government allowed whites to destroy black’s slumsO For Blacks who were permitted to live

thereOR

O Reserved for Whites

Goals of the Apartheid continued

O Prohibited interracial marriage

O Interracial sex was a criminal offense

O Municipal Grounds were reserved for a Race

Goals of the Apartheid continued

O Education was segregatedO 1953 Bantu Education ActO Aimed blacks to be laboring classO Worse Education than the Afrikaans

O Proposed African self government… Never went through

Goals of the Apartheid continued

O Black Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970O Black were no longer citizensO Only of the 20 autonomous territories

O Lebowa, QwaQwa, Bophuthatswana, KwaZula, KaNgwane, Transkei, Ciskei, GazanKula, Vend, and KwaNolebete

Goals of the Apartheid continued

O Black women had few to no rightsO Worked as agricultural or domesticO Jobs hard to findO Low wages

O Children suffered from disease from malnutrition & sanitary problems

O SportsO First divided by race

O Soccer leagues

Censorship

To end the extra-parliamentary movement, African National Congress (AFC), and to erase public memory.

O TV was introduced in 1976O English programming was a so-called

threat to their African language

Anyone try end the Apartheid?O Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela’s tactics

O Joined the African National Congress in 1944 O Resistance of the ApartheidO Outlawed in 1960O He co-founded The Umkhonto We

Sizwe in 1961 (means Spear of the Nation)O Wanted to solve political issuesO In 1961, guerrilla attacks were

initiated, but he was put on trial. ANC eventually became the main mass resistance again.

ArrestO Mandela was on the run for 17

monthsO on august 5, 1962 he was arrested

in the Johannesburg Fort.O The CIA helped locate him

O On October 25, 1962 he was sentenced to 5 years in prisonO Members of the ANC were arrested

during his imprisonment

The Rivoni TrialO The government proposed that the

Umkhonto We Sizwe had too many violent tactics and plotted to overthrow the government.

O June 12, 1964, 8 members & Mandela were convicted to life in prison.

ChargesO Recruitment of training of those who

were going to create acts of sabotageO Mandela organized sabotage

campaigns against military & the government

O Aid of foreign military unites when they invaded the republic

O Further objects of CommunismO Receiving and Soliciting money in

other African nations

Statement at DocksSummary

He was a prisoner for leaving the country without the permit and telling people to go on strike. The statement that the country is not

under the influence of foreigners or communists is incorrect. He did what he did because of his experience as an African, not when an outsider did. Stories he listened to when he was a boy in his tribe, and heard all of the powerful names of

his people who protected the entire African nation. He wanted to make his own contribution

of their freedom struggle. He did plan to sabotage as a result of a calm and sober assessment of his people by the whites

Statement at DocksSummary

He thought the cruelty and violence towards his people was inevitable. He said that it would eventually lead to terrorism and bitterness throughout all races of the nation. There had to

be violence so the African can succeed. He tried at first to avoid

violence, but he had to fight violence with violence when the whites used that tactic against them. They were

not engaging in terrorism. He believes that Africa belongs to all groups and

not a specific race.

Life in PrisonO Endure hard labor for the first 5

yearsO Blacks and political prisoners

received the fewest rations of foodO Political Prisoners- someone who s

imprisoned due to opposing or criticizing the government.

O Became a national symbol as an anti-apartheid movement

Release from Prison 27 years later

O Released on February 11, 1990 in Cape TownO Apartheid laws were not so strict

anymoreO He celebrated in front of a crowd of

thousands

O He was quickly elected president of the ANC

O “Our march to freedom is irreversible”

Aftermath for South Africa/Mandela

O Chris Hani (a leader of the ANC) was assassinated in 1993O Riots in the streets broke outO Mandela told them that South

Africans need to stand together as nation right now so we bring him to justice.

Aftermath for South Africa/Mandela

O Nelson Mandela served a one term presidency from 1994 to 1999 (75-80 age)O 1st person who was not black to be

head of stateO 1st multi-racial electionO Election ended the Apartheid O Won 62% of the vote

O Retired before a second term because of his old age

Mandela’s ReformsO Free health care (to those who

needed it)O Increase of spending on educationO The Land Restitution Act made

blacks get their land lost from them the Natives Land Act back.

O Easier availability for O water, medicines, free meals for

students, construction of 750,000 houses, social assistance, and a number of others

Was the Apartheid like The Civil Rights Movement?

The Albany MovementO 1961- 1962O Martin Luther King J.R. and more

than a thousand blacks were jailed

GoalsO To desegregate Albany, GeorgiaO To set up voter registration boothsO To gain control of the local

governmentO Improvement of black

neighborhoods

How it BeganO Charles Sherrod, Cordell Reagon,

and Charles Jones arrived to set up a voter register driveO Part of the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC)O SNCC challenged segregation

policies

O Meetings and protests O 500 jailed

In TroubleO Decided to call Martin Luther king

Jr.O To keep the protester’s desireO To create an even bigger crowd

O Spoke at a meeting and marched to City HallO Next day he was jailed

ReleaseO Accepted bail

O Whites in power refused to agree to the movement’s goals

O Returned to Albany the next summer for the convictionsO Chose jail instead the payment of the

finesO White lawyer paid their finesO Along with Ralph Abernathy ( a civil

rights leader)

King’s StayO King brought his SCLC (Southern

Christian Leadership Conference) to help the movement

O The chief of Police (Laurie Pritchett) knew of King’s non-violent actsO Decided to retaliate the same wayO Instead jailed more and more marchers

O No more room for them in Albany or other counties

O City refused to jail King

Aftermath for KingO King said it was a lost victory

O Helped motivate and learn from his mistakes to prepare for the Birmingham that eventually became a success

Aftermath for AlbanyO Businessman Thomas Chatman got

enough votes for a city commissionO Forced a run off electionO Next spring, racism was removed

form books

Aftermath for Georgia O In Southwest Georgia, cities and

towns challenged the white power

O Segregation laws were overturnedO Ex: courts made buses available for

everyone

O In the 60s and 70s schools integratedO White families started to attend

private academies

Research Question

How has the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and his anti-apartheid

movement compare to the Civil Rights Movement in America throughout the

60s?

Research QuestionAnswer

Nelson Mandela wanted equal rights between the 4 race groups of the South African Nation. He wanted the social, economic, and physical hardships to stop so everyone can have a brighter future, and a better reason to live. He fought so hard, that he was imprisoned for 18 years. Although he stumbled upon this obstacle, the South African Apartheid ended with the help of his organizations.

Like the civil rights movement throughout America in the 60s, leaders and activists wanted to stop these racist antics as well. They were punished with jail time like Mandela and even death, but they eventually ended racist laws in America.

Oral History of Mr. Richard Wilson

Mandela’s struggle to achieve rights for “Bantu” people in South Africa is very similar to that of the Civil Rights of “Blacks” in America in a number of ways. First Mandela much like Malcolm X chose a path of public resistance to achieve his goal. Like the Malcolm X phrase “by any means necessary” Mandela was prepared to die for the cause (one could argue the same about Dr. King however he pushed for a more nonviolent approach as did Desmund Tutu). The use of government forces to brutally suppress the resistance and torture those who fought against the government’s racially biased polices convinced the many that a violent solution could succeed where non-violence had failed. Secondly, he was an advocate for desegration and pushed for democratic solutions to achieve equality. Finally Mandela’s imprisonment (Like Dr. King and other Civil Rights advocates) became a symbol of the struggle uniting many that would have otherwise abandoned the cause.

Did the African National Congress and eventually the Umkhonto We Sizwe, help the South Africans end this

apartheid movement or only create a bigger problem between the Natives, Afrikaans, Coloreds, and the Indians of the nation?

First and foremost this organization was classified as a “terrorist group.” That label certainly shed a dark shadow on their overall cause, “desegration” thus further dividing those who favored a more non-violent approach. Afrikaaners certainly used this to demonstrate the need to keep the races separate. The ANC did (at least on paper) bring about the desegration in South Africa. The larger issue was the development of SOWETO’s that segregated based on economics. However in reality the poor in South Africa were indeed “Black.” This became a type of instutionalized segregation based on economics but certainly reflected color. As in America instutionalized segregation causes the poor to become frustrated and disinfranchized and their protest methods usually involve violence. Therefore my contention is that it actually did little to change much of anything in South Africa.

Was the Albany Movement successful for Albany, Georgia, or was it a fail like Dr. Martin Luther King

said? Why?

The SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) encouraged black activism and gave legitimacy to the movement. However, very few concessions were given by local government agencies to the black population. In my opinion the movement attempted to focus not on specific issues but segregation as a whole. In other words it was too big of a topic and thus meet with resistance from state and local governments. Thus I tend to support Dr. Kings assertion that the movement failed it achieved little to change the serrations practices in Albany.

Oral History for Matt Rehmn

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by the government in an attempt to reduce his influence and the influence of the ANC in the same way that state and federal governments attempted to reduce the influence of the leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States. There were plots by the government to assassinate Mandela and many people believe that the government was involved in some of the political assassinations that occurred in the United States during the civil rights movement.

Did the African National Congress and eventually the Umkhonto We Sizwe, help the South Africans end this apartheid movement or only create a bigger problem

between the Natives, Afrikaans, Coloreds, and the Indians of the nation?

That’s very difficult to say and there is no definitive answer. The African National Congress clearly helped but there is debate about Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela made it clear that the support of MK policies of violence came only after all efforts at peaceful protest and efforts at change had failed. The violence used by MK definitely created problems for them in that they lost some support from other groups. At the same time, others would say that a people can only be expected to tolerate oppression for so long and it is to be expected that they will take-up arms against their oppressors eventually.

Was the Albany Movement successful for Albany, Georgia, or was it a fail like

Dr. Martin Luther King said? Why?I think whether you feel the movement failed or not depends on your perspective. From Dr. King’s perspective in the moment and while the major achievements of the civil rights movement were still well-off in the future, it is easy to understand why a person might look at the movement as a failure. If looked-at from a current perspective, I think the movement was one step that had to happen in order to begin the erosion of racist and oppressive policies and opinions. While the movement didn’t achieve all of its goals, it played a significant role in drawing public attention to the wrongs that were occurring and set the wheels of change in motion.