How did apartheid affect people's lives, and how did they respond?

Apartheid, a system of complete racial segregation, governed nearly every aspect of life for black and other South Africans. The laws dictated where they could live and travel. Black South Africans needed pass books to travel and work, but getting these pass books was difficult and, at times, made employment impossible. Blacks could also only attend certain segregated schools, at which they received an inferior education and could only hold certain menial jobs. They were excluded from public places in white areas, unless they were passing through on the way to work.
In response, black South Africans began to resist the system of apartheid through the African National Congress (ANC) and other means. The ANC, in which Nelson Mandela was active, was a political group that at first used peaceful protests to fight for rights of blacks and colored people (people of mixed race) in South Africa. After protestors were killed at Sharpeville in 1960, however, the ANC developed a paramilitary wing. There were also student uprisings, such as the 1976 Soweto Uprising in which students protested the imposition of Afrikaans (the language of the Dutch who had settled in South Africa) as a language in schools. Women also mounted protests against pass laws, as these laws made it difficult for them and their families to survive economically. Some of these protests involved coalitions of black people, white people, and Indian people, for example. Eventually, apartheid, which was officially made legal in 1948, was brought down in the early 1990s.

Apartheid is the systematic segregation of a particular group of people by a country’s government. The term traces its origins to South Africa. In 1948, the ruling National Party (NP) instituted a system of racial segregation. They established a system of white minority rule over the black majority natives and other racial groups. The ruling party undermined the social and civil rights of the races they considered inferior.
Members of the black community had their citizenship revoked. They were evicted from their homes and forced into segregated residential areas. The segregation affected access to social amenities and institutions. Schools and hospitals, among other public services, were segregated. Black people were provided with substandard services with no political representation to voice their opposition.  
The situation led to growing dissent among the majority black population. Anti-apartheid groups were organized by the black community to protest against the situation imposed on the community. The government responded by arresting the leaders and participants. Violence erupted across the country between the government and the black community. Internal pressure by the anti-apartheid groups and international embargoes forced the government to reconsider its position and agree to end the segregation.
https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/apartheid-1948-1994/

https://www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid

Apartheid established a system of white minority rule over the country of South Africa that resulted in the eviction of members of the black community from their homes. They were then forced into segregated residential areas, and interracial relationships were forbidden. The majority black population began protesting almost immediately, and violence would dominate the country for years to come.