Oral History Project
how the apartheid affected people’s lives and how they responded
Judith Nakajugo | Cape Town High School | December 30, 1899
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Cover Page 1
Table of Content 2
Pictures 3
Written research 4
Oral History Interview 5
Interview Essay 6
Reflection 7
Bibliography 8
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PICTURES
Picture 1 A white women sitting on a
Europeans only bench
Picture 2 A white man exiting a whites only
toilet and a black man exiting a blacks only
toilet
Picture 3 A whites only beach. Only white
people could enter this beach
WRITTEN RESEARCH
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We have chosen the group areas act, because it is the main law of the apartheid
system and it was the law that most people suffered from. We see it as the most
interesting law of all the apartheid laws
The group areas act was implemented on the 7 of July 1950. It was implemented with the
main aim of forcing separative areas between people considered to be inferior and
superior. Which was the whites and people of colour. The racist government decided
where people could live. White people had the best living areas and people of colour
were forced to live on the outskirts of the city. Many people were forced to uproot their
families, lives and businesses and move to new communities.
When this law put place people of different races were forced to move to different lands.
Each different type of land was for different skin types. People who lived on their non-
racial
land they forced to move to their assigned locations. Only white people lived in comfort
while other races of colour were forced to live in torture.
Many people around South Africa of all colour’s hated this law. Many people tried to stop
This law with peaceful protests and strikes. The government responded by stopping
them
Violently. Some people choose not to abide by the laws and they were punished harshly
The group areas act was a law that people with the different skin colour lived separately.
People of colour lived in bad conditions but white people lived in comfort. this law in us
perspective was very unfair and useless the colour of your skin can not define you
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
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BRIEFLY EXPLAIN WHY YOU CHOSSE THIS PERSON
The person I choose Raymond Ross is because he lived through the apartheid era and
because he is an historian which means he studies history so I believe he is best person
to interview
SIX PROBING QUESTIONS:
WHEN WHERE YOU BORN?
Raymond Ross was born in the year of 1967
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
Raymond Ross grew up in a place called Eerste River in Cape Town
HOW DID THIS LAW (THE GROUP AREAS ACT) AFFECT YOU?
It split his family apart
HOW DID YOU RESPOND TO THIS LAW?
He educated himself
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO RESPOND IN THIS MANNER?
He chooses to respond in this manner because if he didn’t he could end up in jail or dead
HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW THAT THIS LAW (GROUP AREA ACT) IS NO LONGER A LAW IN
SOUTH AFRICA?
He was happy and excited that he could walk in a place that was formally known as a
white area
ESSAY
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In this interview we have interviewed Raymond Ross. Raymond Ross lived through the
apartheid and was affected by it. Raymond Ross was born in the year of 1967. He grew
up in Cape Town in a place called Eerste River
He was affected by the group areas act in an enormous way. Him and his family were
split apart. In the early eighty’s the government took the land. They told Raymond ross
and his family that it was already reserved. They were just trying to remove them. They
decided not to move the government eventually came with their bulldozers and split
their house into two. And then they moved eventually
Raymond Ross responded by educating himself he was the first in his family to go to
university his two brothers and sister decided to also matriculate because he could help
them to finish matric
Raymond Ross responded in this way because he could not fight these laws alone. If he
chose to fight these laws alone he would probably end up in jail or even dead. So he
decided he would join resistance groups in his university. Through these resistance
groups he fought apartheid. He was a student council for two years. And he organized
boycotts
In 1994 Raymond ross was excited to go to vote in a democratic government of South
Africa he was also happy that he could go any ware he liked even if it was a white area in
the past. Raymond ross now stays in a place that was only for whites in the past
REFLECTION
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We have doing a project based on the group areas act. Our experience on doing this
project was amazing we have learned a lot of interesting things from it
Doing this project was very interesting because in history the topic of apartheid was
always a favorite of ours. Our favorite part of doing this assignment was doing the
interview. We liked the others but this one more in particular. We liked how we have
learned a lot about the apartheid doing this. This assignment took my knowledge about
apartheid to another level. But there were some parts of the assignment that we found
boring like all the essays. This is because generally We hate writing essays
Doing this actually gained my knowledge especially in other people’s perspectives in my
own views I never knew that people of different races suffered a lot. I learned a lot from
history assignment and I did enjoy doing it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Aliwood, J. and Hambliey A.2013 spot on social science Cape Town: Pearson
Earl J Keats, Edwards, V, Sauerman, Roberts, Gordon, J, 2013. Social Science Today
Grade 9 learners book Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman
Wtwape, L, Parsard, N, Tobin, [Link] Afrika Social Science Grade 9
Learners Book. Cape Town Viva Afrika Publishers
Randy.P.8. [Link]. Social Science Learners Book Grade 9 Cape
Town: Research
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