American Civil Rights movements Vs. South africa anti-apartheid?

Question

why did the American civil rights movements only last from 1955-1965. Yet the south Africa ant-apartheid acts last for almost 40 years? What made the American movements more successful? please answer this question thank you.

Answer 1

Also in the US the blacks had a right to vote and sew the gov't, so they won they rights faster 

Answer 2

Hi,

There are numerous reasons why.

 

Firstly the civil rights movement actually has its roots in hundreds of years of oppression in the United States dating back to the time before the creation of the US. It only peaked in the 50's and 60's. This is a far longer process then in South Africa where the black population lived relatively undisturbed by white colonialist until halfway through the 19th century. In this sense the civil rights movement is centuries old in comparison to the black rights movement in South Africa which only lasted for about 70 years (apartheid became policy in 1948 by which time the black populations had already been mobilizing).

 

As for why it took so long for the changes to occur there are numerous reasons, I will try to outline the key ones:

 

1) The Afrikaner population (which already had a history of its own persecution at the hands of the British) was a minority. It did not want to give up power for fear of being crushed by the black majority. It held on to the policy of apartheid as a means or survival. This fear was only perpetuated by the rising violence and rebellion among the black populations

 

2) The government had power and economic stability and therefore no real reason to change. It wasn’t until the economic upheaval of the late 70’s and 80’s that there was a realization that apartheid would no longer be sustainable.

 

3) There was not the international pressure for change. Though there were numerous sanctions put against South Africa, the major two players (Britain and the US) still supported the apartheid government and since they were two of the largest economic powers, this negated the other sanctions. Their support was mainly tied to the cold war. The apartheid government was strictly anti-communist where as the African National Congress (the largest organization against apartheid) had close ties to both South Africa’s communist party and many of the neighbour communist countries like Ethiopia

 

As for what made the civil rights movement more successful. I think it is debateable whether it was. In the end it comes down to a different environment. The civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s ran into persecution but nothing like the violence that occurred in South Africa. The white population in the US never really felt threatened in the same way as the white population in South Africa did. I think another key factor is that the US is an older and more mature democracy then South Africa which is only 100 years old (this year). At the time it had far more of the wild west (or wild south) feel to it. In the end though change was inevitable (just like it was in the US).

 

I hope this answers your question.

 

Peace

 

Derek Alton