How is Apartheid and US segregation similar and different?

Answer 1

Apartheid:

1. Apartheid means "Distantiation" in the local Afrikaans language (meaning to establish or create a mental or emotional distance
2. It came about thanks to the National Party gaining power in 1948, and they created the Apartheid laws
3. The goal of the Apatheid was to create small independent nations, where the African sectors called "Bantustans", and also for the white people to gain all the good land. Also white-nationalists used to natives Africans for extremely cheap labor
4. Africans had no ability to vote and were unable to own land
5. Africans needed special passes in order to enter white areas, and with special permission also
6. Apartheid ended with the 1994 election of President Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years due to his anti-Apartheid activity (He was released thanks to the Nationalist Party's last leader, Frederik Willem de Klerk, who pushed for progressive change up until the early 90's)

U.S. Segregation

1. Reconstruction failed after the Civil War, which led to increase in racial discrimination in the US
2. Black people did have the ability to vote thanks to the 15th Amendment, but there was much hostility and laws blocking African-Americans from exercising their right (such as literacy tests)
3. The Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson was infamous for its decision of "separate but equal" in 1896
4. Many African-Americans couldn't receive mortgages to purchase homes, and they weren't allowed to rent in the nicer, white neighborhoods
5. President Woodrow Wilson even installed segregated government offices during his presidency (1913-1921)
6. African-Americans fought in World Wars I and II, but President Truman desegregated the military in 1948
7. The Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, holding that schools will no longer be segregated thanks to Justice Thurgood Marshall & NAACP lawyers in 1954
8. Martin Luther King Jr.'s influence shook the whole Civil Rights Movement (like with his March on Washington) and helped lead changes in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (officially ended segregation), Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Made it easier for African-Americans to vote), and the Fair Housing Act (Outlawed discrimination in housing).
9. MLK Jr. was assanated in 1968 in Tennessee

Similarities:

1. Both separated their citizens based on racial features
2. Laws were held in place to limit their power
3. Both experienced racial discrimination ever since colonization
4. Both had very influential leaders that made huge social and political changes thanks to acts of non-aggression (They both admired Ghandi's tactics with the British Empire in the late 1940s)
5. Both have overcome great adversaries, but still face many issues in modern days
6. Both even ended up with someone of African descent leading the country at some point!

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