In March 1960 the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), an antiapartheid party, organized nationwide protests against South Africas pass laws. A few days later, on 30 March 1960, Kgosana led a PAC march of between 30 000-50 000 protestors from Langa and Nyanga to the police headquarters in Caledon Square. Others were throwing rocks and shouting "Pigs off campus. As the number of UN members from Africa increased, the commission reversed its no power to act position and turned its attention to the human rights situation in South Africa. Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. The event was an inspiration for painter Oliver Lee Jackson in his Sharpeville Series from the 1970s.[23]. Police arrested more than 11,000 people and kept them in jail. This shows a significant similarity in that both time periods leaders attempted to achieve the goal of ending. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. 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). In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. Early on the 21st the local PAC leaders first gathered in a field not far from the Sharpeville police station, when a sizable crowd of people had joined them they proceeded to the police station - chanting freedom songs and calling out the campaign slogans "Izwe lethu" (Our land); "Awaphele amapasti" (Down with passes); "Sobukwe Sikhokhele" (Lead us Sobukwe); "Forward to Independence,Tomorrow the United States of Africa.". The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. 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. Copyright 2023 United Nations in South Africa, Caption: Selinah Mnguni, a Sharpeville massacre survivor, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. During those five months roughly 25,000 people were arrested throughout the nation. Now aged 84, Selinah says she is still proud of her efforts to end apartheid. A robust humanrights framework is the only way to provide a remedy for those injustices, tackle inequality and underlying structural differences, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Max Roach's 1960 Album We Insist! Dr. Verwoerd praised the police for their actions. It also came to symbolize that struggle. [10] Few of the policemen present had received public order training. To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma. This, said Mr Subukwe, would cause prisons to become overcrowded, labour to dry up and the economy to grind to a halt. Without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international human rights law system we have today. The moral outrage surrounding these events led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial . The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by these organisations. Find out what the UN in South Africa is doing towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. 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. The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid . Baileys African History. On March 21, an estimated 7,000 South Africans gathered in front of the Sharpeville police station to protest against the restrictive pass laws. As part of its response, the General Assembly tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. As the campaign went on, the apartheid government started imposing strict punishments on people who violated the segregationist laws. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. Protestors asyoung as 12and13were killed. In response, a police officer shouted in Afrikaans skiet or nskiet (exactly which is not clear), which translates either as shot or shoot. [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. Within hours the news of the killing at Sharpeville was flashed around the world. A United Nations photograph by Kay Muldoon, Courtesy of the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, SATIS (Southern Africa - the Imprisoned Society). A dompass in those days was an Identification Document that determined who you were, your birth date, what race you are and permission from your employers to be in a specific place at a specific time. The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. All Rights Reserved. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. . On this 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, the world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. Along the way small groups of people joined him. 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. The officers asked the demonstrators to turn around; however, they did not budge. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. Later the crowd grew to about 20,000,[5] and the mood was described as "ugly",[5] prompting about 130 police reinforcements, supported by four Saracen armoured personnel carriers, to be rushed in. On the same day, the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all public meetings. Initially the police commander refused but much later, approximately 11h00, they were let through; the chanting of freedom songs continued and the slogans were repeated with even greater volume. 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. The Afrikaner poet Ingrid Jonker mentioned the Sharpeville Massacre in her verse. By mid-day approximately 300 armed policemen faced a crowd of approximately 5000 people. The adoption of the convention was quickly followed by two international covenants on economic, social and cultural rights and on civil and political rights in 1966, introduced to give effect to the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The subject of racial discrimination in South Africa was raised at the UN General Assembly in its first session, in 1946, in the form of a complaint by India concerning the treatment of Indians in the country. For the next two and a half decades, the commission held to this position on the basis that the UN Charter only required states to promote, rather than protect, human rights. Under the country's National Party government, African residents in urban districts were subject to influx control measures. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. He was tricked into dispersing the crowd and was arrested by the police later that day. The victims included about 50 women and children. Mandela went into hiding in 1964, he was captured, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Lined up outside was a large contingent of armed police with some atop armoured cars. Amid confusion, two shots were fired into the air by somebody in the crowd. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. 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]. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Steven Wheatley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The PAC and the African National Congress, another antiapartheid party, were banned. Amid confusion, two shots were fired into the air by somebody in the crowd. [17], Not all reactions were negative: embroiled in its opposition to the Civil Rights Movement, the Mississippi House of Representatives voted a resolution supporting the South African government "for its steadfast policy of segregation and the [staunch] adherence to their traditions in the face of overwhelming external agitation. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. The South African Police (SAP) opened fire on the crowd when the crowd started advancing toward the fence around the police station; tear-gas had proved ineffectual. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. "[1] He also denied giving any order to fire and stated that he would not have done so. All that changed following the worlds moral outrage at the killings. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. Later, in the fifties and the sixties, these same goals, enlign poll taxes and literacy tests, were once again fought for by African American leaders, through advocacy and agitation. To read more about the protests in Cape Town. Weve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. As the number of UN members from Africa increased, the commission reversed its no power to act position and turned its attention to the human rights situation in South Africa. [9] The Sharpeville police were not completely unprepared for the demonstration, as they had already driven smaller groups of more militant activists away the previous night. Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960 The day of the Massacre, mourning the dead and getting over the shock of the event Baileys African History Archive (BAHA) Tom Petrus, author of 'My Life Struggle', Ravan Press. Knowing the democracy we have today was achieved in part because of the blood we sacrificed was worth it, she says. 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. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid . But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. On that day, demonstrations against the pass laws, which restricted the rights of the majority black population in apartheid South Africa, began in the early morning in Sharpeville, a township in Transvaal. Some estimates put the size of the crowd at 20,000. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. Police officers attempted to use tear gas to repel these advances, but it proved ineffectual, and the police fell back on the use of their batons. This caused many other countries to criticize South Africas apartheid policy. The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages. [10], PAC actively organized to increase turnout to the demonstration, distributing pamphlets and appearing in person to urge people not to go to work on the day of the protest. 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. 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. In the following days 77 Africans, many of whom were still in hospital, were arrested for questioning . Three people were killed and 26 others were injured. A week later, a breakaway group from the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) held its first conference in Johannesburg. Dr. Verwoerd praised the police for their actions. Half a century has passed but memories of the Sharpeville massacre still run deep. March 21 Massacre in Sharpeville In the Black township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed Black South African demonstrators,. Unlike elsewhere on the East Rand where police used baton when charging at resisters, the police at Sharpeville used live ammunition. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. We need the voices of young people to break through the silence that locks in discrimination and oppression. International sympathy lay with the African people, leading to an economic slump as international investors withdrew from South Africa and share prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange plummeted. As an act of rebellion the passes were set alight, as seen in a picture by Ranjith Kally. These laws restricted blacks movements within the country. This shows a major similarity as they wanted to achieve the same things. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd: some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police and that the mood had turned "ugly". Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the two world wars. It was adopted on 21 December 1965. On 24 March 1960, in protest of the . I will argue that the massacre created a major short-term crisis for the apartheid state, a crisis which appeared to Langa Township was gripped by tension and in the turmoil that ensued, In the violence that followed an employee of the Cape Times newspaper Richard Lombard was killed by the rioting crowd. Ingrid de Kok was a child living on a mining compound near Johannesburg where her father worked at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. Sobukwe was only released in 1969. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the day that changed the course of South African history. Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities, Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world today. 20072023 Blackpast.org. Its been 60 years since the Sharpeville massacre, when 69 unarmed civilians were killed by armed South African police on March 21 1960. Sharpeville Massacre. At the annual conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in Durban on 16 December 1959, the President General of the ANC, Chief Albert Luthuli, announced that 1960 was going to be the "Year of the Pass." When the news of the Sharpeville Massacre reached Cape Town a group of between 1000 to 5000 protestors gathered at the Langa Flats bus terminus around 17h00 on 21 March 1960. The protesters responded by hurling stones (striking three policemen) and rushing the police barricades. The world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. They were mild campaigns at first, but as the government became more hostile, so did ANC protests. The University had tried to ban the protest; they handed out 12,000 leaflets saying the event was cancelled. The massacre also sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. 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. 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. Many people set out for work on bicycles or on foot, but some were intimidated by PAC members who threatened to burn their passes or "lay hands on them"if they went to work (Reverend Ambrose Reeves, 1966). Some of them remain in prison", "Sharpeville Memorial, Theunis Kruger Street, Dicksonville, Sharpville ABLEWiki", Calls for inquiry into Israels Gaza killings, Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sharpeville_massacre&oldid=1140778365, Killings by law enforcement officers in South Africa, Short description is different from Wikidata, Use South African English from April 2016, All Wikipedia articles written in South African English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 19:08. By the end of the day, 69 people lay dead or dying, with hundreds more injured. The subject of racial discrimination in South Africa was raised at the UN General Assembly in its first session, in 1946, in the form of a complaint by India concerning the treatment of Indians in the country. The apartheid system forcefully suppressed any resistance, such as at Sharpeville on March 21 1960, when 69 blacks were killed, and the Soweto Riots 1976-77, when 576 people died. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Its been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. Migration is a human right, How the Sharpeville massacre changed the United Nations, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. The police also have said that the crowd was armed with 'ferocious weapons', which littered the compound after they fled. Baileys African History Archive (BAHA)Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. The Sharpeville Massacre, 1960 Police Attack Demonstrators in Sharpeville, March 21, 1960 Few events loom larger in the history of the apartheid regime than those of the afternoon of March 21, 1960, in Sharpeville, South Africa. Kgosana agreed to disperse the protestors in if a meeting with J B Vorster, then Minister of Justice, could be secured. When the demonstrators began to throw stones at the police, the police started shooting into the crowd. Furthermore, during the nineties to the twenties, leaders of African Americans sought to end segregation in the South, as caused by Plessy v. Ferguson. the Sharpeville Massacre But attempts to transform this non-binding moral declaration into a binding legal code were immediately bogged down in cold war disputes. "The aeroplanes were flying high and low. In her moving poem Our Sharpeville she reflects on the atrocity through the eyes of a child. On March 21, demonstrators disobeyed the pass laws by giving up or burning their pass books. In response, a police officer shouted in Afrikaans skiet or nskiet (exactly which is not clear). The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre, as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. Perseverance and determination are also needed to build on the lessons learnedfrom the Sharpeville tragedy and repair the injustices of the past. These protests were to begin on 31 March 1960, but the rival Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, decided to pre-empt the ANC by launching its own campaign ten days earlier, on 21 March, because they believed that the ANC could not win the campaign. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. Along with other PAC leaders he was charged with incitement, but while on bail he left the country and went into exile. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Under this system there was an extended period of gruesome violence against individuals of colored skin in South Africa. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. Time Magazine, (1960), The Sharpeville Massacre, A short history of pass laws in South Africa [online], from, Giliomee et al. In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. [5], F-86 Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers approached to within 30 metres (98ft) of the ground, flying low over the crowd in an attempt to scatter it. All the evidence points to the gathering being peaceful and good humoured. The police ordered the crowd to disperse within 3 minutes. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. These protestors included a large number of northern college students. According to his "Testimony about the Launch of the Campaign," Sobukwe declared: To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the, According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at, Afrikaner Nationalism, Anglo American and Iscor: formation of Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation, 1960-70 in Business History", The Sharpeville Massacre: Its historic significance in the struggle against apartheid, The PAC's War against the State 1960-1963, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1960-1970, The Sharpeville Massacre - A watershed in SouthAfrica, Saluting Sharpevilles heroes, and South Africa's human rights, New Books | Robert Sobukwes letters from prison, South African major mass killings timeline 1900-2012, Origins: Formation, Sharpeville and banning, 1959-1960, 1960-1966: The genesis of the armed struggle, Womens resistance in the 1960s - Sharpeville and its aftermath, Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960, List of victims of police action, 21 March, 1960 (Sharpeville and Langa), A tragic turning-point: remembering Sharpeville fifty years on by Paul Maylam, Apartheid: Sharpeville Massacre, 21 March 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 1, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 2, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Documents, and articles relating to the Sharpeville Massacre 1960, Editorial comment: The legacy of Sharpeville, From Our Vault: Sharpeville, A Crime That Still Echoes by J Brooks Spector, 21 March 2013, South Africa, Message to the PAC on Sharpeville Day by Livingstone Mqotsi, Notes on the origins of the movement for Sanctions against South Africa by E.S. On the day passes were suspended (25 March 1960) Kgosana led another march of between 2000 and 5000 people from Langa to Caledon Square. Many thousands of individuals applied for the amnesty program and a couple thousand testified through the course of 2 years. Approximately 10,000 Africans were forcibly removed to Sharpeville. The United Nations Security Council and governments worldwide condemned the police action and the apartheid policies that prompted this violent assault. Individuals over sixteen were required to carry passbooks, which contained an identity card, employment and influx authorisation from a labour bureau, name of employer and address, and details of personal history. In the Black township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed Black South African demonstrators, killing 69 people and wounding 180 in a hail of submachine-gun fire. The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. Pogrund,B. Journalists who rushed there from other areas, after receiving word that the campaign was a runaway success confirmed "that for all their singing and shouting the crowd's mood was more festive than belligerent" (David M. Sibeko, 1976). Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. Courtesy BaileySeippel Gallery/BAHA Source. 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. What happened on 21 March in Sharpeville? 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. Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, 1960), incident in the Black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, in which police fired on a crowd of Black people, killing or wounding some 250 of them. This was in direct defiance of the government's country-wide ban on public meetings and gatherings of more than ten persons. On March 21st, 1960, the Pan Africanists Congress, an anti-Apartheid splinter organization formed in 1959, organized a protest to the National Partys pass laws which required all citizens, as well as native Africans, to carry identification papers on them at all times. There were 249 victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 people killed and 180 injured. This angered the officers causing them to brutally attack and tear gas the demonstrators. It can be considered the beginning of the international struggle to bring an end to apartheid in South . A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . These two industries experienced rapid growth in the immediate aftermath of World War II and continued growing into the 1950s and 1960s. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? With the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994, the apartheid system ended. Plaatjie, T. (1998) Focus: 'Sharpeville Heroes Neglected', The Sowetan, 20 March.|Reverend Ambrose Reeves (1966). The enforcement of Pass Laws and the reissue of laws that restricted the. Sharpeville had a high rate of unemployment as well as high crime rates. Mr. Tsolo and other members of the PAC Branch Executive continued to advance - in conformity with the novel PAC motto of "Leaders in Front" - and asked the White policeman in command to let them through so that they could surrender themselves for refusing to carry passes. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The police were armed with firearms, including Sten submachine guns and LeeEnfield rifles. This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies.