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80 Years Ago in South Africa

Ethnic tensions and divisions in South Africa, between whites and blacks, and between British and Dutch, did not improve after the colony gained dominion status in 1910, instead they became worse. Systematic, legalized discrimination against Africans begins with the Land Settlement Act. This gave Africans ownership of only about 12 percent of the territory in the Republic of South Africa. During the First World War, there is another Boer rebellion against British rule, but the rising is quickly put down. Children are forbidden to speak Dutch at school in an attempt to make English the only language of South Africa.

Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in 1869 to Hindu parents in the state of Gujarat in Western India. He entered an arranged marriage with Kasturbai Makanji when both were 13 years old. His family later sent him to London to study law, gaining his degree in 1891. In Southern Africa he worked ceaselessly to improve the rights of the immigrant Indians. It was there that he developed his creed of passive resistance against injustice, satyagraha, meaning "truth force", and was frequently jailed as a result of the protests that he led. He became a symbol and role model for anti-colonial movements around the world.

In 1923, the European (mostly British) settlers of Southern Rhodesia achieve self-rule as a crown colony of Great Britain. The Rhodesian settlers objected to giving Indians and Africans greater legal and political rights, and had begun plans to create an independent white-ruled state, but the leaders of the revolt backed down at the last moment.

Alan Paton, author of "Cry, the Beloved Country", was born in South Africa in 1903. Written in 1948, his book became one of the most influential works about South Africa, showing the relationship between the different ethnic groups through the fictional story of a South African family. By the time Paton died in 1988, the book had sold 15 million copies. It has also been made into two movies.

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