South Africa's Apartheid

Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.

I find it very difficult to put into words how utterly devastating the system of Apartheid was and the negative impact it had on the lives of the blacks and coloreds in South Africa. But out of the destruction came those freedom fighters who took a non-violent approach to fight for justice. We should all take a lesson from history from these individuals who were socially and economically depressed by their own government, but who didn't fight back with force, but rather with knowledge and peaceful uprisings.

It wasn't until 1994, just 16 years ago that apartheid came to an end in South Africa. Those I spoke with said that the scars that apartheid left will take generations heal.

At this final stop at the museum each guest was asked to stop and take a stone from one pile and place it in the pile you see above. This action resembled the part we all play in ending social injustice. At Robbin Island where Nelson Mandela resided in prison for 27 years this tradition began with the prisoners as they were freed.