📅 26 May 1948
The National Party came to power on an apartheid platform despite receiving fewer votes overall than its opponents. The Black majority had no national vote.
📅 7 July 1950
The act authorized compulsory residential and business segregation and became a major legal instrument for mass forced removals from multiracial neighbourhoods.
📅 7 July 1950
Every resident was assigned a racial classification. These classifications determined residence, schooling, employment, political rights and everyday movement under apartheid.
📅 4 March 1953
The government gained broad authority to declare states of emergency, detain people and rule by proclamation. The measure responded directly to mass resistance.
