Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

The system classified all South Africans by race and enforced strict segregation in all aspects of life, including housing, education, and politics.

The African National Congress (ANC) was the primary organization leading the resistance against Apartheid.

Early resistance was based on nonviolent protest, but after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the ANC adopted a strategy of armed struggle.

Nelson Mandela was a key leader of the ANC who was arrested and imprisoned for 27 years, becoming a global symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle.

A powerful international movement developed to oppose Apartheid.

This movement imposed economic sanctions, sports boycotts, and cultural boycotts on South Africa.

In the late 1980s, facing international pressure and internal unrest, the South African government began to dismantle Apartheid.

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990.

South Africa held its first all-race, democratic election in 1994, which resulted in Mandela becoming president.