Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and were one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system. Segregation means separation. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

The Native Urban Areas Act 1923 deemed urban areas in South Africa as "white" and forced all black African men in cities and towns to carry permits called "passes" at all times. Anyone found without a pass would be arrested immediately and sent to a rural area.

The Pass Laws Act 1952 made it compulsory for all black South Africans over the age of 16 to carry a "pass book" at all times. The law stipulated where, when, and for how long a person could remain. This pass was also known as a dompas. The term Blacks is often used in the West to denote race for persons whose progenitors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. ...

The document was similar to a passport, containing details on the bearer such as their fingerprints, photograph, the name of his/her employer, his/her address, how long the bearer had been employed, as well as other identification information. Employers often entered a behavioural evaluation, on the conduct of the pass holder. The title page of European Union member state passports bears the name European Union, then the name of the issuing country, in the official languages of all EU countries. ... Fingerprints can refer to: Human fingerprints Fingerprints, a Leonard Cohen song. ... A sepia-tinted photograph of an English couple, taken in 1895. ...

An employer was defined under the law and could be only a white person. The pass also documented permission requested and denied or granted to be in a certain region and the reason for seeking such permission. Under the terms of the law any governmental employee could strike out such entries, basically canceling the permission to remain in the area. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

A pass book without a valid entry then allowed officials to arrest and imprison the bearer of the pass. These passes became the most despised symbols of apartheid. The resistance to the Pass Law led to many thousands of arrests and was the spark that ignited the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960, and led to the arrest of Robert Sobukwe on that same date. A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... South African police officers standing over people killed in the Sharpeville massacre. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan African Congress in opposition to the Apartheid regime. ...

Similar laws in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) required adult black males to carry a 'registration card' also referred to as "situpa" [1]. Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) also passed laws making it compulsory for black citizens to carry an 'identification certificate' often referred to as "chitupa" [2]. Southern Rhodesia was the name given to the British colony situated immediately to the north of South Africa, known today as Zimbabwe. ... Flag of Northern Rhodesia. ...

See also

• Bantustan
• Segregation
• Ghetto
• Identity document
• Judenhut
• Second-class citizen
• Yellow badge
• Pencil test, Passing

Map of the black homelands in South Africa as of 1986 Map of the black homelands in Namibia as of 1978 Bantustan is a territory designated as a tribal homeland for black South Africans and Namibians during the apartheid era. ... Segregation means separation. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... China ID card 居民身份证 ,front (top) back (bottom). ... The Jewish poet Süßkind von Trimberg wearing a Judenhut (Codex Manesse, 14. ... Second class citizen is an informal term used to describe a person who is discriminated against or generally treated unequally within a state or other political jurisdiction. ... The yellow badge which Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi occupation of Europe: a black Star of David on a yellow field, with the word Jew written inside. ... Pencil test has multiple meanings. ... Passing is a persons being regarded as a member of a social class other than his or her own, such as a different sex, race, or disability status, generally with the purpose of gaining social acceptance or of comporting with the persons own cultural or gender identity. ...

External links

• Apartheid Pass Laws and the Anti-pass campaigns