I need help writing about apartheid in the 50's, 80's and 2000's in a couple of sentences. theres to much 2say

Question

i dont know how what to write about apartheid in these periods because there was alot happening and websites dont summarize it and talk about a lot of stuff. im supposed to write only a couple of sentences. What are the important things i must put down?

Answer 1

In the 50's, apartheid was legally instituted.  You would want to define and name four important laws:

"The Population Registration Act,

The Group Areas Act,

The Bantu Homelands Act, and

The Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act."  

The 1950's also saw the formation of the African National Congress (the ANC).  Nelson Mandela is imprisoned. http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/di...

What was significant about the 1980s is that the injustice of apartheid came to the attention of the international community and countries around the world began to pressure South Africa to end the system. You might want to mention the continued imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, and the death of journalist Stephen Biko. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/...

In the 2000s, South Africa entered the post-apartheid period.  You will want to mention Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu and the "Truth Commission,"  based on the principle of ubuntu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(ide... ), to redress the history of apartheid.  A new constitution was written, and South Africa is now an accepted member of the international community. http://www.racism.gov.za/host/pasa.htm

If you wanted to really cut to the chase it might look something like this:

Although there was a history of racism in South Africa, the legal state of apartheid was formally instituted by the government in the 1950s through a series of laws which defined "blacks and coloreds" and stripped them of their rights.  In the 1980s, the injustices of apartheid came to the attention of the international community which pressured the South African government to repeal the apartheid laws and call for a new constitution.  Nelson Mandela was elected as the first president under the new constitution, and he instituted a "Truth Commission" to redress the historic harm of apartheid.  Although South Africa today still suffers from the social and economic aftereffects, the transition has been peaceful and the country is now an accepted member of the international community.

Cheers