Question

What is apartheid?

Answer 1

Hint:
> It is a type of lawful discrimination.
> It was very prevalent in the Republic of South Africa.

Complete answer:
Apartheid is the system that believes in separation of people based on their color, ethnicity, caste, etc. It was a strict policy in South Africa to segregate and economically and politically oppress the non-white population of the country.

Apartheid laws were introduced in 1948 and racial discrimination was institutionalized. This race based law affected almost every aspect of the person’s social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites and the sanction of the ‘white-only’ jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act was passed in which all South Africans were racially classified into three categories: white, black (African), or colored (mixed of descent). These categories were classified on the basis of appearance, social acceptance and descent, the colored category included major subgroups of Indians and Asians.

For example, a white person was defined as ‘obviously a white person’ or generally accepted as a white person only if he or she was white in appearance and both their parents were white. ''A person would not be considered white if one of his or her parents were non-white. To determine that a citizen was ‘obviously white’, it would take into consideration his habits, speech, education and demeanor.''

A black person, without doubt would be accepted as a member of an African tribe or race. A colored person is a person who is neither black nor white.

Note:
A government office, i.e. The Department of Home Affairs was responsible for this classification of the citizens on the terms of color.
Non-acquiescence of these race laws were dealt with harshly.
All black citizens were supposed to carry a ‘pass book’ that contained fingerprints, photo and information to gain access to non-black areas.