One activity to teach apartheid is to assign students a research project about the differences between South Africa's "separate development" and the United States' "separate but equal." Have students find out what restrictions were placed on nonwhite South African citizens with regard to mobility, livelihood, residence and land ownership. How did these compare with the Black Codes passed in the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War? Were nonwhite citizens of both countries allowed to vote in local and national elections and hold elective office? What forms of identification were required for voting, employment or travel outside certain regions of the country?
Another activity for teaching apartheid is to ask teams of students to study the rhetoric and attitudes of the white South African leaders who kept apartheid in place, as well as those members of Parliament who tried to end it. Teams could choose their own subjects or draw them from a random mix of names, including P.W. Botha, D.F. Malan, Walter Sisulu and Helen Suzman. Have students stage a mock parliamentary debate in which they use the actual words of pro-apartheid and anti-apartheid leaders to support their positions.
Students will enjoy studying the liberation of South Africa from apartheid, especially if they take part in activities that allow them to hear and/or see two great heroes of the freedom movement. Play selections from "Mandela: An Audio History" to let students hear the voices of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Then form teams of student reviewers to watch movies and interviews with each man and decide what their classmates should see to learn about apartheid. Have an apartheid film festival based on the top six DVD's selected by the student review team, with capsule descriptions of each movie provided by the team members.
Declare a Stephen Biko Day. Have the class plan activities to celebrate Biko, who gave his life in the effort to end apartheid. Some students could read from Biko's writing, while others could write their own essay, play or poem about the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. Other activities for the day could be based on the movie, "Cry Freedom," starring Denzel Washington. End with songs written about Stephen Biko, such as Tom Paxton's "The Death of Stephen Biko" and Peter Gabriel's "Biko."
Nkosi Albert Lufhuli is another South African hero whose life is easily used in activities designed to teach apartheid. Lufhuli embodied the role of peacemaker. A teacher who became the first head of the ANC, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961. A Young Historians Award is given in Lufhuli's name every year. See how many of your students would enter it if they were South African citizens. Hold your own Albert Lufhuli Award contest, requiring a serious scholarly oral presentation as well as a written portfolio of each young historian's research on apartheid.
Have students learn about apartheid by studying the protest songs of the era. Some were sung in South Africa at great risk, in spite of the government's strict censorship. A wealth of anti-apartheid songs were sung in front of the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., over the years as a constant parade of activists, politicians, movie stars and ordinary citizens demanded South African freedom. Play recordings, including those that let students hear the once-forbidden Afrikaans language, or have musically inclined students learn and sing such songs as "Fight Apartheid" by Peter Tosh.