Some Rough Historical Parallels between South Africa and the United States

Abstract

Both the United States and the Republic of South Africa sprang out of the British Empire. Both countries developed into democracies, giving the vote to all citizens. Their paths were very different, but each at different times adopted similar policies. It was Apartheid in South Africa versus Jim Crow laws and urban renewal in the United States. Both saw concentration camps, the British in South Africa for the Boers and the United States for the Japanese Americans. Both countries used reservations and pass laws for the indigenous populations. Voting rights were denied to non-Whites in both countries. In neither country did freedom guarantee economic equality. Opportunities were much greater in the United States; the Southern African-Americans could migrate to the more open North and West in the United States. The struggle for political equality continued for decades in both nations, being achieved in the last half of the 20th century.

Keywords: Apartheid, Jim Crow Laws, Reservations, Concentration Camps, Bantustans, Pass Laws, Native Americans, Asian Discrimination, Miscegnation,Voting Rights, Economic versus Political equality