Class, Race and Residence in Black Johannesburg, 1923–1970

Abstract This study examines the relationship between social class and residential differentiation in Johannesburg's African population on the eve of apartheid. During the high apartheid period, access by the African population to education, housing, jobs and even the right to live in the city bore little relationship to differences of social class. By contrast, in the 1940s and early 1950s, state policy on education, urbanisation and housing still differentiated the African population along the lines of social class. State control over housing for Africans was relatively unregulated, with the result that housing conditions varied tremendously by social class, ranging from squatter camps, rental accommodation in the form of slums and council housing, and even some respectable homes held in freehold title.