Barriers to Freedom and waves of resistance

In 1910 the Union of South Africa, incorporating the former Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the two former British colonies of the Cape and Natal, was constituted.

In 1948 apartheid became official government policy, furthering the colonial pattern of segregation, racial domination and white minority privilege. The Group Areas Act of 1950 allowed the forced removal of 'coloured' people from their homes; and Africans were subject to the despised pass laws controlling their movement everywhere in the country.

Apartheid ruled and divided a nation, but resistance was brewing and no amount of legislation, reform or repression could stop it. Protest ended in tragedy in 1960 when police killed 69 peaceful demonstrators in Sharpeville.The massacre prompted 30 000 protesters to march on Cape Town from Langa. The government reacted by banning the ANC and PAC. Driven into exile, peaceful protest became armed resistance.
In 1976 students in Soweto rebelled against the use of Afrikaans in black schools.
The 1980s witnessed an eruption of resistance. The United Democratic Front, launched in 1983, unified the struggle. Apartheid had been pushed to the brink of collapse.

Timeline

1910	Union of South Africa established, incorporating the Cape colony; African delegation travels in vain to London to protest against exclusion and the colour bar
1912	South African Native National Congress (SANNC, later ANC) is founded
1913	Natives' Land Act is passed, enforcing the separation of whites and Africans in the rural areas
1914-18	World War I: 12 452 South Africans die
1918	CJ Langenhoven writes Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
1923	Natives (Urban Areas) Act extends segregation to towns
1925	Afrikaans is adopted as an official language, in addition to English
1936	Property-owning Cape Africans are removed from the common voters' role
1939-45	World War II: 9 000 South Africans die; large numbers of Africans seek work in cities & towns
1948	Apartheid becomes official policy of government
1960	Anti-Pass Law campaign: 30,000 Africans march from Langa to Cape Town
1960	ANC & PAC banned: leaders flee into exile; military wings established
1964	Nelson Mandela and comrades imprisoned on Robben Island
1966	District Six declared a white area under the Group Areas Act
1976	Soweto uprising spreads to schools in W Cape
1980s	Widespread revolt against apartheid in W Cape and across country
1983	United Democratic Front (UDF) is launched in Mitchells Plain, Cape
1984	Desmond Tutu is awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1986	Pass system & influx control abolished; rate of African urbanisation increases
1990	ANC and other political parties unbanned and political prisoners released
1991	Formal multi-party negotiations begin to provide for a new constitution & democracy
1993	Nelson Mandela awarded Nobel Peace Prize jointly with FW de Klerk
1994	South Africa's first democratic election
1994	Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa