What life was like in South Africa during apartheid? What was apartheid?

"Apartheid" is an Afrikaans word meaning "separation," or to be held apart. Apartheid in South Africa was a system of institutionalized racism which went beyond the segregation of the United States in the Jim Crow years, requiring complete separation of people from different racial groups. Under apartheid, even to have a friendship with someone of a different race was generally frowned upon. The system was established as a legal framework in 1948, although there had been segregation before this, and continued until 1994. There were "levels" of discrimination under this system, in which people were defined as "white," "black," "colored," or "Indian." At different times under the system, "colored" people were allowed to vote while blacks were not, and "colored" schools were better than those for the blacks, albeit far inferior to those for whites, and so on.
Key segregation laws under apartheid included:
1. It was illegal to marry a person of a different race
2. Non-white South Africans were confined to different residential areas from white people
3. Schools were divided on the basis of race
4. Public facilities were segregated
5. Non-white South Africans had to carry documents identifying themselves if traveling in certain parts of the country
There was significant opposition to apartheid throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. Particular atrocities which still have effects today revolved around the removal of many black farmers from their good farming lands. These lands were then sold very cheaply to white farmers, with the black farmers thrown into poverty. Today, contention continues over these farmlands.
https://www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid