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Day 10: South Africa and Apartheid

October 25, 2013 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

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Exploring South Africa and Apartheid: Look! We're Learning!

10 Days of African History for Kids: Look! We're Learning!

Hi there! Welcome to the final day of our 10 Days of African History for Kids series! We’re ending with a discussion of apartheid in South Africa.

What was Apartheid?

The word apartheid literally means “separateness” and, true to its name, apartheid was used to enforce racial segregation between blacks and whites. Interestingly, the policy didn’t just apply to black Africans, but to Indians and all people of color. The prevailing view of many white Africans at the time is underscored by this property sign:

Image c/o: QU South Africa

I had to explain to the children that this sign was informing all people of color that they would be killed for stepping foot on the property. Notice that this policy pointedly applies only to people of color, so this is not simply the work of an overly possessive property owner.

Image c/o: McDaniel.edu

We found it interesting that all people of color were grouped together under apartheid. Skin tone, country of origin, or language had no bearing on how they were viewed. On the other hand, all whites were viewed as “clean”, no matter where they came from or their ethnic heritage.

Back in August, we took an in-depth look at the life of Nelson Mandela and his efforts to overturn the apartheid policy. The kids remembered much of what we talked about from that lesson and mentioned it during this discussion. Homeschooling win! We read the book S Is for South Africa (World Alphabets) at the end to help the children look at how South Africans live today now that apartheid has ended.

African Kingdoms Timeline

Afterward, we wanted to go back and get a historical perspective of all of the kingdoms and events we covered in our African history series. We wrote all of the topics on the board and had the kids tell us which event they thought came first.

Exploring South Africa and Apartheid: Look! We're Learning!

They were surprised to learn that Kush was actually an older empire than Egypt.

Exploring South Africa and Apartheid: Look! We're Learning!

Everyone took turns filling in the timeline.

Exploring South Africa and Apartheid: Look! We're Learning!

We included two timeline pages: a blank one for filling in the chronological order of the events and kingdoms and a second one with all of the topics and dates added.

Grab your free download of our basic African history timeline by clicking on either of the pictures or the link below!

Basic African History Timeline Page 1

Basic African History Timeline Page 2

Basic African History Timeline

Books and Resources about South Africa and Apartheid

Time for Kids: South Africa Timeline – Interactive timeline of the development of the country of South Africa, including dates during the anti-apartheid movement

Kids Net Encyclopedia: History of South Africa – A thorough kid-friendly summary of how the country of South Africa was formed, including the original African tribes, colonization by the Dutch and the British, and the end of apartheid

McDaniel.edu: Apartheid in South Africa – Upper elementary grade lesson plan with a picture activity and a discussion prompt

Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

African Beginnings

The Colonial Conquest of Africa

S Is for South Africa (World Alphabets)

Thank you so much for following along with our series 10 Days of African History for Kids! We hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed studying it!

This post is part of the 2013 Autumn Hopscotch from iHomeschool Network! Click below to read the Hopscotch posts from our fellow bloggers!

iHN Autumn Hopscotch 2013

Filed Under: 10 Days of African History for Kids

Comments

  1. Nita says

    October 25, 2013 at 6:35 am

    I have really been enjoying your study with the kids!!!

    Reply
    • Selena@lookwerelearning says

      October 28, 2013 at 6:04 am

      Thanks so much!

      Reply
  2. Kim says

    October 25, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    Thank you so much for this series. I really enjoyed it and I plan to use some of it in our homeschool

    Reply
    • Selena@lookwerelearning says

      October 28, 2013 at 6:03 am

      Oh, I’m so glad! Thanks for visiting!

      Reply
  3. Aadel Bussinger says

    October 27, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    This series was awesome! I am bookmarking it to show my kids after we are done reading about Japan. Great job!!

    Reply
    • Selena@lookwerelearning says

      October 28, 2013 at 6:04 am

      Hey Aadel! Thanks for visiting! 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. African History For Kids {from Look! We’re Learning! } says:
    March 4, 2014 at 12:27 am

    […] to African History.Starting from a simple introduction to the continent of Africa, to learning about Apartheid in South Africa,   Selena shares wonderfully exhaustive resources. Be sure to read the full post and explore the […]

    Reply
  2. Around the World DIY Summer Camp Ideas {All Things Kids} | All Done Monkey says:
    June 11, 2014 at 5:58 am

    […] South African history and apartheid from Look! We’re […]

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Hi! I'm Selena, a veteran teacher and homeschool mom to four. I'm so glad you're here!
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