50: Soweto

50 years ago today (June 16, 1976) the Soweto Uprising (Afrikaans: Soweto-opstand) occurred in South Africa.

(Mbuyisa Makhubu carries Hector Pieterson after Pieterson was shot and killed at the Soweto Uprising. Antoinette Sithol, Pieterson's sister, runs beside them.)

20,000 Black Students from different Schools in Soweto Township protested the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 that forced All Students (including English-Speaking Whites) to learn the Afrikaans Language.

The Black and Coloured Students considered Afrikaans to be the “Language of the Oppressor” and the “Language of Apartheid.”

The English Language was the preferred Language for English-Speaking Whites as well as Coloureds  and Blacks which the Afrikaans-Speaking White Apartheid Government was trying to reverse.

While English-Speaking White Students only had 1 Class of learning Afrikaans Blacks and Coloured Students now had to have Mathematics and Social Studies in Afrikaans with English used for Homecraft, Needlework, Woodwork, Metalwork, Art and Agricultural Science.

The Majority of Black Students in South Africa only had a Basic Understanding of Afrikaans.

1,500 Police used tear gas, batons, and live ammunition and trained dogs  as Crowd Control on the Students.

Among the first Students to be shot dead were 15-year-old Hastings Ndlovu and 12-year-old Hector Pieterson, who were shot at Orlando West High School.

The Photographer Sam Nzima took a photograph of a dying Hector Pieterson as he was carried away by Mbuyisa Makhubo and accompanied by his Sister, Antoinette, which became the symbol of the Soweto Uprising.

176 Students were killed and another 1,000 Students were wounded on June 16^th.

Many White South Africans were outraged at the Government's actions in Soweto.

The day after the Massacre, 400 White Students from the University of the Witwatersrand marched through Johannesburg's city center in protest of the killing of Children.

For the Government, the Uprising marked the most fundamental challenge yet to Apartheid.

The Economic and Political Instability that it caused was heightened by the strengthening International Boycott.

The UN Security Council passed Resolution 392, which strongly condemned the incident and the Apartheid Government.

Apartheid officially ended in 1994.

Since 1996, June 16^th is now known as Youth Day in South Africa.

The Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum opened in Soweto in 2002, not far from the spot where 12-year-old Hector was shot.