Editing Bloemfontein (section)

=== Unionisation of South Africa (1910s) ===
On 31 May 1910, exactly eight years after the Boers signed the [[Treaty of Vereeniging|Peace Treaty of Vereeniging]] that ended the Anglo-Boer War between the [[British Empire]] and two [[Boer]] [[State (polity)|states]], the [[South African Republic]] (Republic of Transvaal) and the [[Orange Free State]], South Africa became a Union.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/union-south-africa-1910|title=The Union of South Africa 1910|last=tinashe|date=2011-11-08|work=South African History Online|access-date=2017-12-16}}</ref>

Due to disagreements over where the Union's capital should be, a compromise was reached that allowed Bloemfontein to host [[Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)|Appellate Division]] and become the Union's judicial capital.<ref>Section 109 of South Africa Act, 1909</ref> Bloemfontein was also given financial compensation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-2212266|title=The South Africa Act, 1909|date=1 January 1910|publisher=The American Journal of International Law|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

On 8 January 1912, the [[African National Congress|South African Native National Congress]] (SANNC) was founded in Bloemfontein. The Union of South Africa had not granted rights to black South Africans, causing the organisation's creation. Its primary aim was to fight for the rights of black South Africans.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/organisations/african-national-congress-anc|title=African National Congress (ANC)|last=sahoboss|date=2011-03-20|work=South African History Online|access-date=2017-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220091912/http://www.sahistory.org.za/organisations/african-national-congress-anc|archive-date=20 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the implementation of [[pass laws]], the city saw major demonstrations that forced South African authorities to exempt women from them for nearly four decades.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark|first=Nancy L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/883649263|title=South Africa : the rise and fall of apartheid|date=2016|others=William H. Worger|isbn=978-1-138-12444-8|edition=Third|location=Abingdon, Oxon|oclc=883649263}}</ref>

From 1 to 9 January 1914, [[J. B. M. Hertzog|James Barry Munnik Hertzog]] and his supporters met in Bloemfontein to form the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party of the Orange Free State]], and to lay down its principles, following Hertzog's exit from the [[South African Party]] in 1913.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/national-party-np|title=National Party (NP)|last=sahoboss|date=2011-03-30|work=South African History Online|access-date=2017-12-16}}</ref> The National Party grew to govern South Africa in 1948 and implement the policy of [[racial segregation]] known as [[apartheid]].