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Apartheid

 

             From 1948 to 1960 the policies and strategies of apartheid changed. It began as rules and regulations for example putting people into different groups based on their color and spiraled into violence, such as the massacre at Sharpsville. Over time the rules and severity of apartheid increasingly generated more violence. The government passed laws that were more restrictive and harsh, and the movement of the African National Congress (ANC) responded with violence.
             In 1952, the government passed a law called the Natives Act. It required all blacks to have a reference book when they turned sixteen. A reference book was a form of identification that would prove who they were and where they lived. It contained ninety-six pages with all sorts of information. The government was an increase of restriction due to apartheid for they just restricted the old law they had called Pass Laws. The Natives Laws humiliated the blacks. As it was exclusively applied to them, and not people of other ethnic backgrounds. The blacks had to carry the reference book around at all times and they nicknamed it "the stinker". On the other hand whites were given an identity card which they did not have to carry it on their person. The penalty for a black person not carrying their book was being arrested. This was only the beginning of the increase of restrictions that the government would come up with. The Blacks on the other hand also grew more violent and mad about the idea of apartheid and the Native Act, for they were infuriated that the government would take a law that was already despised and make it harsher.
             Another act was passed by the government that increased tension. They passed the Natives Resettlement Act in 1954. This was to move all of the black people (57,000 people) out of the town, called Sophiatown, to a new area. This was done because they believed that blacks were living in a "white area".


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