“Cry freedom cry. From deep inside, where we are all confined.” These words by singer/songwriter Dave Matthews establishes the fact that apartheid, separation of the races, was in fact, a very real thing in South Africa. The natives of South Africa experienced discrimination throughout the South African history. The roots of prejudice lie within the European colonization.

Back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the first Dutch settlers started to arrive in South Africa, the downfall of the black people’s society started. In 1652, one of the largest trading monopolies in the world then, the Dutch East India Company sent Jan Van Riebeeck and a handful of its company employees the Cape of Good Hope, located at the tip of South Africa. The company’s original plan was to set up a refreshment station for the trading ships going to and from the Dutch colonies in Asia. But, that ended up not being what eventually happened after all.

A few years after the employees arrival, the company allowed some of the employees to live there as “free burghers.” In return they had to sell their produce to the company. Each employee got about

It takes protests and movements and very strong leaders to accomplish what the likes of Nelson Mandela did for South Africa and what Martin Luther King Jr. did for the United States. I believe that South Africa will eventually correct what has happened, but scars will still be there from when times were bad.

After the white settlers took over the Khoikhoi and the San land, they had one of the main prerequisites for white prosperity: abundant land. The only thing they didn’t have was cheap labor power to work the land they had unfairly received. During those early years, the settlers couldn’t get enough people from the San or Khoikhoi people to be employees to work their new land. As long as the San could live off of their hunting ground, and as long as the Khoikhoi could live off of their cattle, they would not willingly go to work for the Dutch settlers.

The Bantu Authorities Act was established in 1951. It was a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' The government would assign Africans to independent states (the “homelands”) according to the record of origin of the person (which was frequently inaccurate). There were no political rights, including voting, in these designated homelands.

To determine that a person was “obviously white’’, The Department of Home Affairs would take into account “his habits, education, and speech and deportment and demeanor.'' A black person would be accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not considered black or white. All black people were required to carry “pass books'' that contained their fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas.

The ANC and PAC were forced underground and fought apartheid through irregular warfare and sabotage against the white minority government. In May 1961, South Africa handed over its dominion status and declared itself a republic. It withdrew from the Commonwealth, partially because of international protests against apartheid.

To quote singer/songwriter Dave Matthews, born a South African, once again, he has said in his song Cry Freedom “ Hands and feet are all alike. But fear between divide us, hands and feet are all alike. Hear what I say, hear what I say.”

During Nelson Mandela's 5-year term as President of South Africa, the government committed itself to reforming the country. The ANC-led government focused on social issues that were neglected during the apartheid era such as unemployment, housing shortages, and crime. Mandela's administration began to reintroduce South Africa into the global economy by implementing a market-driven economic plan (GEAR). In order to heal those wounds that were created by the effects of South African apartheid between the white minority and the black people, the government created the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) under the leadership of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Tutu was born of Xhosa and Tswana parents and was educated in South African mission schools at which his father taught. Though he wanted a medical career, Tutu was unable to afford training and instead became a schoolteacher in 1954. He resigned his post in 1957. Ordained an Anglican parish priest in 1961, Tutu lectured at a theological seminary in Johannesburg. In the late 1960s he moved to London, where he received an M.A. from Kings College, London. From 1972 to 1975 he served as an assistant director for the World Council of Churches. He served as dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg (1975-76) and was the first black to hold that position.

twenty acres of land each. There was only one problem; the San and Khoikhoi tribes that had been there for hundreds of years already occupied the land that the company gave the employees. The only way for the white settlers to take over the land was through the conquest and defeat of the Khoikhoi and th

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Approximate Word count = 2762
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)