Nelson Mandela Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nelson Mandela - Essay Example These conditions kept on prevailing until in 1911 the Mines and Works Act stated that the Black workers could not be engaged as cheap semi-skilled laborers and this prohibited Black workers from seeking skilled work. In 1914 the National Party (NP) under General Hertzog made the law that the right to vote belonged to White and was not extended to Blacks. In coming years Blacks were deprived of the right to own their lands. The years went by and Blacks were subjected to discrimination by the Whites. Encyclopedia of Britannica describes apartheid as, policy that governed relations between South Africas white minority and nonwhite majority and sanctioned racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against nonwhites. It was in 1948 when the apartheid law was introduced which prohibited marriage of White and Non-White marriages and sanctioned White only jobs. The population was classified into White, Black and Colored. The Blacks had to carry pass books all the time containing their fingerprints, photos and information to access Non Black areas. There was discrimination in education, medical care and public services, and Blacks were always considered inferior to Whites. In 1951 the Bantu Authorities act established homelands for Blacks, their own lands were divided into separate homelands in which they had to live and in order to travel to another homeland they needed a passport, thus in other words they became alien to their own country. Whosoever did not abide by the law were subjected to injustices. Severe penalties were enforced on people and they were put in prison where brutal torture killed them. The statistics below show the result of apartheid law policies; It was through these hard times when a man rose up from between to combat these terrible practices of apartheid. Nelson Mandela was born on 28th July 1918, and dedicated his life to