South Africa repeals racial classification law

South Africa repeals racial classification law

June 17, 2009 03:00:00 am

On June 17, 1991, South Africa repealed the Population Registration Act. Since its passage in 1950, the Act had required every South African to be racially classified at birth. These classifications, in turn, would determined the child’s social and political rights for the rest of his or her life in South Africa.

Learn more about the History of Apartheid in South Africa from Standford University.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).

League of Nations established

On January 10, 1920, the League of Nations was formally established as the Treaty of Versailles entered into force. Review the Covenant of the League of Nations and a full League of Nations timeline.