On 7 April 1960, Black South Africans queued at a government office in Johannesburg to receive new passbooks. A South African History Online image record directly documents the line. The passbook functioned as an internal passport controlling work, residence and presence in urban areas; being without the required document could lead to arrest or removal.
Those waiting were not applying for an identity card of convenience. They had to obtain permission from a racial state to work, move and remain in cities within their own country. The order at the issuing counter was the point where apartheid compressed freedom into a document.