Social apartheid refers to de facto segregation on the basis of class or economic status, in which an underclass is forced to exist separated from the rest of the population. The word "apartheid", originally an afrikaans word meaning "separation", gained its current meaning during the South African apartheid that took place between 1948 and early 1994, in which the government declared certain regions as being "for whites only", with the black population forcibly relocated to remote designated areas.

Typically a component in social apartheid, urban apartheid refers to the spatial segregation of minorities to remote areas. In the context of the South African apartheid, this is defined by the reassignation of the four racial groups defined by the Population Registration Act of 1950, into group areas as outlined by the Group Areas Act of 1950. Outside of the South African context, the term has also come to be used to refer to ghettoization of minority populations in cities within particular suburbs or neighbourhoods.

Cristovam Ricardo Cavalcanti Buarque (in standard orthography, Cristóvão Ricardo Cavalcate Buarque; Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾisˈtɔvɐ̃w̃ buˈaʁki] or [kɾiʃˈtɔvɐ̃w̃ ˈbwahki]; Recife, February 20, 1944) is a Brazilian politician and university professor, member of Democratic Labour Party (PDT). He is married and has two children.

Buarque graduated in mechanical engineering from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1966). At that time he engaged in student politics becoming a militant of the Ação Popular, a group of the Leftist Progressive Church. After the 1964 coup, he was persecuted and took exile in France, where he earned a PhD in economics from Sorbonne (Paris), in 1973. He worked at Inter-American Bank of Development (IDB) in Ecuador, Honduras and the United States from 1973 to 79. He was the first elected rector, by direct vote, of the University of Brasilia in the wake of the military regime, governor of Distrito Federal, Minister of Education and currently senator, elected in a historic landslide. Author of ten books with several published articles. He worked as a consultant for several national and international bodies under the United Nations (UN). Presided over the UN University for Peace Council and participated on Food Presidential Commission, formerly directed by late Sociologist Herbert "Betinho" de Souza.

Jay Naidoo (born Jayaseelen “Jay” Naidoo, 20 December 1954) is the co-founder of the J&J Group and founder of the J&J Development Projects Trust. He is the non-executive Chairperson of the premier development finance institution in Southern Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa. He is also Chairperson of the Geneva-based Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, a global public-private partnership committed to fighting malnutrition with projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.

Naidoo is a member of the Global Health Advisory Panel of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and of the Health Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative, and is Trustee and Deputy Chair of an eminent South African organisation dealing with HIV and Aids, loveLife. He also sits on the Advisory Committee of the International Telecommunications Union.

Naidoo was General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions from 1985 to 1993. He then served as Minister responsible for the Reconstruction and Development Programme in President Mandela’s office and as Minister of Post, Telecommunications, and Broadcasting (1996 – 1999). Naidoo was a member of the NEC of the African National Congress. For his accomplishments he has gained many honors, including becoming a Chevaliers de la Legion d’Honneur

African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.

African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.

African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.