In the 1920s when this photo was taken of a Xhosa man with a pipe, the South African government was busy reinforcing the foundation of apartheid. The government reserved skilled work for whites and denied black workers the right to organize. Legislation, which was consolidated in the Natives Urban Areas Act of 1923, entrenched urban segregation and controlled movement by means of pass laws, according to Gov.za. The pass laws were designed to force blacks into labor and to keep them there under conditions and at wage levels that suited white employers.
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