Apartheid: Separate and Unequal

What Is Apartheid?

Apartheid \ ə-pärt’hīt’, -hāt’\ n. A policy of segregation and social and economic discrimination by one group over another group. Separation. [Afrikaans : Dutch apart, separate (from French à part, apart; see apart) + Dutch -heid, -hood.] Apartheid is a Dutch Afrikaaner word that describes the institutionalized racist and segregated system that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Under Apartheid, a system of legalized racial segregation and discrimination existed where the minority white population, which held all legal, political and administrative power, suppressed the human and civil rights of the majority black population.