A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. A posseman. On 24 March 1960, in protest of the massacre, Regional Secretary General of the PAC, Philip Kgosana, led a march of 101 people from Langa to the police headquarters in Caledon Square, Cape Town. However, the police simply took down the protesters names and did not arrest anyone. Black citizens began to resist this prejudice though and also used violence against the enforcers of Apartheid. Tear gas was again fired into the crowd but because of wind the gas had little effect on dispersing the students, some of the protesters picked up the tear gas canisters and threw them back at the Guard. On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot hundreds of people protesting laws that restricted the movement of blacks. Both organisations were deemed a serious threat to the safety of the public and the vote stood at 128 to 16 in favour of the banning. [16], The Sharpeville massacre contributed to the banning of the PAC and ANC as illegal organisations. Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedypaved the way for themodern United Nations, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Jennifer Davis: Exiled hero of South Africas anti-apartheid movement, Ralph Ziman: I hated apartheid. Other witnesses claimed there was no order to open fire, and the police did not fire a warning shot above the crowd. Its similar to an article in south africa that people have with racial segregation between black and white . What event happened on March 21 1960? In March 1960 the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), an antiapartheid party, organized nationwide protests against South Africas pass laws. Time Magazine, (1960), The Sharpeville Massacre, A short history of pass laws in South Africa [online], from, Giliomee et al. On the same day, the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all public meetings. At its inaugural session in 1947, the UN Commission on Human Rights had decided that it had no power to take any action in regard to any complaints concerning human rights. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. The Sharpeville massacre. That impact is best broken down into its short-term, medium-term, and long-term significance. During the Eisenhower administration, Congress passed two measures that proved to be ineffective: the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? People often associate their behavior and actions from the groups they belong to. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. Krog was one of these Afrikaners. Pretoria, South Africa, The blood we sacrificed was worth it - Sharpeville Massacre, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Welcome to the United Nations country team website of South Africa. In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. By 9 April the death toll had risen to 83 non-White civilians and three non-White police officers. He became South Africa's . At least 180 were wounded. Ingrid de Kok was a child living on a mining compound near Johannesburg where her father worked at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. The protesters responded by hurling stones (striking three policemen) and rushing the police barricades. Eyewitness accounts attest to the fact that the people were given no warning to disperse. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng ). For them to gather means violence. Following the Brown decision, grassroots African American activists began challenging segregation through protests continuing into the 1960s (Aiken et al., 2013). The Sharpeville Massacre On the morning of March 21, 1960, several thousand residents of Sharpeville marched to the township's police station. In my own research on international human rights law, I looked to complexity theory, a theory developed in the natural sciences to make sense of the ways that patterns of behaviour emerge and change, to understand the way that international human rights law had developed and evolved. All that changed following the worlds moral outrage at the killings. Sharpeville, a black suburb outside of Vereeniging (about fifty miles south of Johannesburg), was untouched by anti-apartheid demonstrations that occurred in surrounding towns throughout the 1950s. Learn about employment opportunities across the UN in South Africa. Sixty-nine protesters died, and the massacre became an iconic moment in the struggle against apartheid. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. As the small crowd approached the station, most of the marchers, including Sobukwe, were arrested and charged with sedition. But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. [5], The official figure is that 69 people were killed, including 8 women and 10 children, and 180 injured, including 31 women and 19 children. Even so and estimated 2000 to 3000 people gathered on the Commons. Other PAC members tried to stop bus drivers from going on duty and this resulted in a lack transport for Sharpeville residents who worked in Vereeniging. It was adopted on December 21 1965. On 30 March 1960, the government declared a state of emergency, detaining more than 18,000 people, including prominent anti-apartheid activists who were known as members of the Congress Alliance including Nelson Mandela and some still enmeshed in the Treason Trial. The reactions of white South Africans to the revelations of the Truth Commission can be divided into two main groups There are those who refuse point-blank to take any responsibility and are always advancing reasons why the commission should be rejected and regarded as a costly waste of money. In order to reduce the possibility of violence, he wrote a letter to the Sharpeville police commissioner announcing the upcoming protest and emphasizing that its participants would be non-violent. In particular, the African work force in the Cape went on strike for a period of two weeks and mass marches were staged in Durban. Other evidence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission "the evidence of Commission deponents reveals a degree of deliberation in the decision to open fire at Sharpeville and indicates that the shooting was more than the result of inexperienced and frightened police officers losing their nerve. To read more about the protests in Cape Town. As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. By lunchtime, the crowd outside the police station had grown to an estimated 20,000 people. The Sharpsville Massacre was a seminal moment in the history of South Africa. That date now marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international system of human rights that we have today. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. The event has been seen by some as a turning point in South African history. When an estimated group of 5000 marchers reached Sharpeville police station, the police opened fire killing 69 people and injuring 180 others in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. It was a sad day for black South Africa. NO DEFENCE! And with the 24th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Voting Rights Act of 1965 being ratified, the civil rights movement and the fight to end segregation reached its legal goal (infoplease.com). The foundation of Poqo, the military wing of the PAC, and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, followed shortly afterwards. Following the dismantling of apartheid, South African President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the site at which, on December 10, 1996, he signed into law the countrys new constitution. Now aged 84, Selinah says she is still proud of her efforts to end apartheid. Find out more about our work towards the Sustainable Development Goals. At this point the National Guard chose to disperse the crowd, fearing that the situation might get out of hand and grow into another violent protest. Baileys African History Archive (BAHA)Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. Witness History. The impact of the events in Cape Town were felt in other neighbouring towns such as Paarl, Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Hermanus as anti-pass demonstrations spread. Freedom Now Suite includes the composition Tears for Johannesburg in response to the massacre. It include with civil right that violence verses non-violence that the government could or. Similarly, African American leaders from the fifties to the sixties also fought for the end of segregation, in cases such as Brown v. Board of Education. Some were shot in the back as they fled.[1]. Often times individuals feel proud to be a member of their group and it becomes an important part of how they view themselves and their identity. Other protests around the country on 21 March 1960. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg. According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at Drum magazine: The police have claimed they were in desperate danger because the crowd was stoning them. Race, ethnicity and political groups, is an example of this. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. Baileys African History. The OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa also produced a series of digital stories on the Sharpeville massacre and young peoples concerns about their human rights. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [7][8], On 21 March, 1960, a group of between 5,000 and 10,000 people converged on the local police station, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passbooks. By 1960, however, anti-apartheid activism reached the town. This affirmed that the elimination of racial discrimination was a global challenge that affronted the respect and dignity of all human beings. A United Nations photograph by Kay Muldoon, Courtesy of the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, SATIS (Southern Africa - the Imprisoned Society). The ratification of these laws may have made the separate but equal rhetoric illegal for the U.S. but the citizens inside it still battled for their beliefs. The Supreme Courts decision in the famous and landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 set a precedent for desegregation in schools. In the 1960s, many of the colonial nations of Africa were gaining independence. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. In Cape Town, an estimated 95% of the African population and a substantial number of the Coloured community joined the stay away. During the shooting about 69 black people were killed. Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. As well as the introduction of the Race Convention, Sharpeville also spurred other moves at the UN that changed the way it could act against countries that breached an individuals human rights. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Amid confusion, two shots were fired into the air by somebody in the crowd. By mid-day approximately 300 armed policemen faced a crowd of approximately 5000 people. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the day that changed the course of South African history. It was a system of segregation put in place by the National Party, which governed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Others were throwing rocks and shouting "Pigs off campus. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. A lot of Afrikaners felt a sense of guilt for the behavior they allowed to happen from their race towards another. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. Matthews called on all South Africans to mark a national day of mourning for the victims on the 28 March. Through a series of mass actions, the ANC planned to launch a nationwide anti-pass campaign on 31 March - the anniversary of the 1919 anti-pass campaign. Policemen in Cape Town were forcing Africans back to work with batons and sjamboks, and four people were shot and killed in Durban. p. 334- 336|Historical Papers Archive of the University of the Witwatersrand [online] Accessed at: wits.ac.za and SAHA archive [link no longer available]. The world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. [12], Many White South Africans were also horrified by the massacre. March 21, is celebrated as a public holiday in honor of human rights and to commemorate the . Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. The key developments were the adoption of Resolution 1235 in 1967, which allowed for the examination of complaints of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as exemplified by the policy of apartheid, and Resolution 1503 in 1970, which allowed the UN to examine complaints of a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. The ban remained in effect until August 31, 1960. To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma. However, the 1289 Words 6 Pages Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedy paved the way for the modern United Nations, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile.