The campaigns against the pass laws involved protests, demonstrations and the burning of pass books.
On 9 August 1956, now celebrated as South African Women's Day, over 20,000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in protest against the extension of the pass laws to women.
On 21 March 1960 police opened fire on men, women and children who were protesting against the pass laws at Sharpeville in the then Transvaal province, killing 69 of them.
A week later, amid mounting protests and demonstrations, a State of Emergency was declared.
The ANC is in an alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Each Alliance partner is an independent organisation with its own constitution, membership and programmes. The Alliance is founded on a common commitment to the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution, and the need to unite the largest possible cross-section of South Africans behind these objectives.