After the British declaired South Africa an independent country in 1910, the white led government passed laws that would ensure power would be kept in white hands. "The Native's Land Act of 1913, for example, stated that blacks could live in only 8% of the country, The rest of the land belonged to whites" (p. 170). This did not outlaw blacks from working on the whites' land, but did exclude them from decent jobs and wages. Eventually the system of racisim became institutional under the name apartheid. Apartheid means separateness and allowed discrimination based on race.
Apartheid was not entirely supported by all of the whites, many took to the streets, but were met by well armed police who did not hesitate to use deadly force. Eventually charismatic leaders such as Nelson Mandela began to threaten the Afrikaner's power by their ability to inform and persuade people all over the world to take notice and action. Mandela spent 28 years in an Afrikaner prison because of his opposition to apartheid, but while he was there he spent his time writing books which brought him fame and power. Eventually the nations of the world began to boycott South African products because they were obtained using the labor of a repressed people. This international pressure eventually forced the Afrikaner government to release Mandela from jail so he could run for the presidency of South Africa.
Mandela won election in a landslide and his government ended the institutional racism that ravaged the country. Even though the institutions of racism have been smashed, lingering inequality continues to exist.
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