JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (FN) — The brutal legacy of apartheid endures in black-and-white — not only in history books, but in the signs that once dictated every aspect of life for millions of South Africans. Rarely seen photographs from 1950 to 1990 reveal the everyday reality of a regime that used public signage as a weapon of racial control.
Apartheid, the Afrikaans term meaning “apartness,” became official state policy in South Africa in 1948. Although racial discrimination had existed long before, it was codified through legislation by the white-led National Party. In 1953, the government passed the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, which legalized the physical segregation of public services and spaces.
The act enforced restrictions across a staggering array of areas — including hospitals, schools, transportation, bathrooms, restaurants, cinemas, beaches, and even benches and elevators. Signage marked “Whites Only” or “Non-Whites Only” became a defining feature of South African life, serving as constant visual reminders of state-sanctioned racial hierarchy.
This form of segregation became known as Petty Apartheid — the visible, daily enforcement of racial separation. While Grand Apartheid dealt with land ownership and political exclusion, Petty Apartheid invaded daily routines. A Black South African could not sit on a park bench reserved for Whites, enter a designated “White” church, or ride in the same ambulance as a white person.
These divisions were further entrenched through racial classification policies that divided South Africans into four legal groups: White, Black, Indian, and Colored. Classification was not merely administrative — it determined one’s legal rights, where one could live, and even whether one was permitted to vote.
Authorities used arbitrary tests to assign racial categories, including the infamous “pencil test,” in which a pencil was inserted into a person’s hair. If it remained in place when the head was shaken, the person was classified as Black. Such procedures fractured families and communities. In some cases, members of the same family were legally reclassified into different racial groups.
The classification system also had diplomatic and economic loopholes. Japanese, Taiwanese, and South Korean nationals were labeled “honorary Whites” to maintain trade relationships, giving them privileges denied to the vast majority of the population.
Under the 1953 legislation, segregated facilities were not required to be equal in quality. The state invested heavily in White infrastructure while providing inadequate or decaying facilities for the rest. Black-only schools received inferior funding, public hospitals lacked basic resources, and transportation networks for non-White citizens were overcrowded and underdeveloped.
Even in death, the system separated people. Cemeteries, funeral homes, and hearses were segregated by race. Beaches, bridges, and public restrooms were similarly divided, with White-designated areas receiving the majority of state maintenance and security.
Churches were among the few spaces where segregation was inconsistently applied. Although a 1957 law prohibited Black worshippers from attending White churches, enforcement was sporadic, and many religious institutions ignored the rule in practice.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, then-President P.W. Botha began dismantling parts of Petty Apartheid. However, critics argue that the removal of signs was largely cosmetic. The underlying system of oppression, including political disenfranchisement and violent policing, remained intact.
Following the fall of apartheid in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified Botha’s administration as responsible for gross human rights violations. Botha never expressed remorse.
Today, the racist signage of apartheid stands as grim historical evidence. These photographs, many recovered from archives and private collections, document more than just metal signs and painted walls — they expose a state apparatus that used bureaucracy, language, and public space to enforce white supremacy.
