Background on Apartheid

1. Background on Apartheid • Apartheid= a system of LEGAL racial segregation enforced by the National Party government • 1948 to 1994 in South Africa • Apartheid was dismantled through negotiations between 1990 to 1994

2. Background on Apartheid • Stripped South African Blacks of their citizenship and placed them into one of ten tribally based bantustans • Small, unproductive areas of the country • Restricted their right to vote • Segregated medical care, schooling, and public services

3. Legislature • Population Registration Act • National register with your race listed • Groups Areas Act • Forced removals from “wrong” areas • Separate Representation of Voters Act • Stripped Blacks and Colored of right to vote • Bantu Authorities Act • Created Black homelands • Natives Act • Need to carry a passbook

4. Background on Apartheid • Apartheid sparked protest and resistance • Anti-Apartheid Movement • African National Congress • Black Consciousness Movement • Apartheid ended in 1994, but the effects are still prevalent today

21. “My Children, My Africa” Athol Fugard

22. Athol Fugard • Born in 1932 in Middleburg, South Africa • White with English and Afrikaner parents • In early 1980s, as a protest, Fugard left South Africa for the United States • Returned in 1990s after the transition to majority rule

23. Athol Fugard • Early in his life, he worked as a clerk in a Johannesburg court where pass law violations were tried • Writes plays about political situations • Performances often officially stopped by police • Often annoyed and interrogated by police • Passport revoked for 5 years

24. “My Children, My Africa” Three characters Mr. M Thami Isabel

25. “My Children, My Africa” Things do not need to stay the same “His drama presents the torture and devastation that befalls the simple, ordinary individuals, the deep and bloody scars that these atrocities leave not only on the body of the victim but also the jailor.”