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Delve into the mad world of apartheid’s first pillar — race classification — by reading the poorly worded legislation that underpinned it. Read the cross-examination of one man who presented his reclassification case to the Race Classification Appeal Board. Look through various dramatic newspaper articles that tell how race classification affected the lives of law-abiding South Africans. Rethink your seemingly innocuous identity number when you read how its digits categorised you into a racial group.
» DIVIDE AND RULERead the most important clauses of the Population Registration Act — the Act that developed the legal framework by which individuals were classified according to race and ethnicity.
» IN THE FIRING LINEAn extract from the cross-examination of Oscar Henry Felton, who was being accused of "passing" for white, gives a sense of the heated nature of race-classification hearings.
» "I WAS SHUNNED BY MY FAMILY"Race classification and racism in South Africa affected not only individuals, but entire families.
» THE TWILIGHT KIDSThe apartheid paper trail often wound into thickets of absurdity. Those who were not registered or classified according to official procedures were considered to be non-existent, and could not access any of the resources granted to citizens.
» IDENTITY BY NUMBERSYour identity number was no ordinary serial number: details about your gender, race and ethnicity were contained in this number.
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