History glossary
Group Areas Act
the 1950 apartheid law used to assign residential and business areas by race.
- Category
- Law
- Region
- South Africa
- Date range
- 1950
What it means
The Group Areas Act of 1950 gave the state power to divide urban space by race. It enabled forced removals, destroyed mixed neighbourhoods and pushed many Black, Coloured and Indian South Africans into segregated areas.
