Final answer:
Apartheid and Jim Crow laws both enforced racial segregation; however, apartheid was a comprehensive national policy in South Africa, while Jim Crow laws varied by state in the U.S. Both featured inferior facilities and systemic discrimination for blacks but were dismantled through different historical processes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Apartheid and Jim Crow laws represent two historical systems of racial segregation, but in different contexts and periods. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa that existed from 1948 until the early 1990s, enforcing complete separation of different racial groups and stripping black South Africans of their civil rights. In contrast, Jim Crow laws were American state and local statutes enacted mainly in Southern states between the late 19th century and 1965, that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities under the doctrine of 'separate but equal', which was established by the Supreme Court in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Both systems legalized and enforced racial discrimination, but apartheid was a more comprehensive national policy of racial segregation, while Jim Crow laws varied by state and were part of the broader pattern of institutional racism in the United States.
Both apartheid and Jim Crow laws created a dual society with a dominant white population that held the most power and privilege, and a black population subject to systemic discrimination and inequality. Facilities for blacks were inferior in quality, and violations of these segregation laws could result in harsh penalties. However, while Jim Crow laws were eventually dismantled in the U.S. through significant civil rights movements and legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the end of apartheid in South Africa came after long-term international pressure and internal strife that led to the country's first non-racial elections in 1994.