1994
South Africans End Apartheid

“Never and never again shall the laws of our land rend our people apart or legalize their oppression and repression.”

Nelson Mandela,
South African President,
April 27, 1994

In 1994, South Africans voted in their first multiracial democratic elections. Gone at last was the rule of a white minority, in place since 1910 and further entrenched under apartheid in 1948.

Apartheid legalized and enforced discrimination based on rigid racial categories, dictating where nonwhite South Africans could live, work, and attend school. Under apartheid, untold thousands of Africans were jailed and killed for asserting their human rights.

Since winning majority rule, South Africans have embraced the huge challenge of restructuring their society.

History Matters
Millions of Americans took up the cause of South African freedom, calling for U.S. corporate divestment from South Africa. In 1986, Congress passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.