What was it like to be a white South African during apartheid?

South Africa had a crazy system of deciding your race, including whether the moons of your fingernails were a bit more mauve than white, indicating a hint of black blood. There also was the test of whether a pencil would stay in your hair, indicating it must be of kinky black stock. read more

To refer to"White South Africans", especially during that time, is a rather broad generalization. While apartheid basically legislated the"separate development" of black and white South Africans, there was a kind of natural (non-legislated) segregation based on cultural and language differences too. read more

In Cradock, a South African town in the eastern Cape where she was living when apartheid was legalized in 1948, my English-speaking mother struggled with her studies after new laws sought to entrench white superiority through the Afrikaans language. read more

Disclaimer: I did not live in South Africa during apartheid. But, in short, I think it would depend on who you ask. For white South Africans, life was good. read more