March 20, 2020

Tomorrow, March 21, marks 60 years since the Sharpeville Massacre took place in South Africa in 1960. On that day, South African police opened fire into a crowd of black demonstrators. The incident occurred in the township of Sharpeville, now part of the city of Vereeniging. The shooting left 69 people dead and more than 180 wounded.

People flee from gunfire during the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa on March 21, 1960. Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images

The demonstration in Sharpeville was part of a nationwide protest against the pass laws. The pass laws required black adults to carry identity papers called passes. They also restricted the movement of black people around the country. The pass laws were part of a policy of rigid racial segregation called apartheid. The policy had existed in South Africa since 1948.

An antiapartheid group called the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) organized the protest. The group called on black South Africans to go to police stations without their passes on March 21, 1960, and peacefully submit to arrest. Only a few demonstrators responded in most cities. In Sharpeville, however, several thousand protesters gathered outside the police station. A few hundred police officers faced them from behind a wire fence surrounding the station. In the early afternoon, the officers began to fire, probably in confused reaction to a scuffle between police and protesters near the fence. Many demonstrators were shot in the back as they fled.

The events at Sharpeville had long-lasting effects on the antiapartheid campaign. At first, the shooting sparked large demonstrations in sympathy for the victims. The government then banned the PAC and the African National Congress (ANC), a larger antiapartheid organization. Forced underground, the organizations altered their tactics to include violent forms of protest. Outrage over the deaths at Sharpeville also helped spur an international antiapartheid movement.

Apartheid ended in South Africa during the early 1990’s. Today, South Africans honor March 21, the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, as Human Rights Day.

July 18, 2018

On July 18, 1918, 100 years ago today, activist and politician Nelson Mandela was born in the Transkei territory (now the Eastern Cape province) of South Africa. Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid, a policy of strict racial segregation, and he helped unify a very fragmented nation. His efforts earned him international admiration and a Nobel Peace Prize. Mandela is remembered as the father—or tata—of modern South Africa, where July 18th is celebrated annually as Mandela Day. Commonly called by his clan name, Madiba, Mandela died on Dec. 5, 2013, at age 95.

Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South Africa. He was born 100 years ago today on July 18, 1918. Credit: © AP Photo

To honor Mandela on what would have been his 100th birthday, South Africa issued a special set of bank notes and gold coins depicting Mandela’s upbringing in rural Eastern Cape; his 27-year incarceration; and the end of apartheid. Yesterday, on July 17, 2018, former United States President Barack Obama delivered a Mandela Day speech before 15,000 people in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. The United Nations is sponsoring centenary events for its Nelson Mandela International Day and hosting a “Building on the Legacy of Nelson Mandela” exhibit at its headquarters in New York City. The Nelson Mandela Foundation is dedicating this year’s anniversary to Action Against Poverty, an independent development organization that helps poverty-stricken people in northeastern Africa.

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South Africa
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Mandela had a long history of protesting against apartheid, and he paid a heavy price for it. In 1962, he was imprisoned on charges of conspiring to overthrow the white minority government. While in prison, Mandela became a global symbol of the struggle for racial justice. After his release in 1990, he led negotiations with white leaders that eventually brought an end to apartheid and established a nonracial system of government. From 1991 to 1997, Mandela served as president of the African National Congress (ANC), a group that helped win political and civil rights for the country’s blacks.

This illustration is from Nelson Mandela, a picture book biography by African American illustrator and author Nelson Kadir. Credit: © Kadir Nelson, Harper Collins

Mandela and then-President Frederik Willem de Klerk of South Africa shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. They were honored for their work to end apartheid and to enable the country’s nonwhites to fully participate in the South African government. In 1994, South Africa held its first elections in which people of all races could vote. Blacks won a majority of the seats in a new National Assembly, and the Assembly selected Mandela to be president. The election marked the beginning of a new era in South Africa. Mandela served as president until 1999, when he retired from public service.

June 16, 2016

Earlier today, June 16, South Africans marked the 40th anniversary of the bloody Soweto Uprising of 1976. The uprising began as a protest against education programs under South Africa’s policy of racial segregation known as apartheid. Apartheid lasted from the late 1940’s to the early 1990’s. The Soweto uprising and its aftermath motivated black Africans to become more organized in their struggle for freedom. It also forced the South African government to make gradual reforms that slowly led to the end of apartheid.

Police confront kneeling Soweto youths on June 16, 1976, the first day of protests in what became known as the Soweto Uprising. Credit: © Foto24/Getty Images

In 1975, protests started in African schools after the government decreed that Afrikaans had to be used equally with English as languages of instruction in secondary schools. Although Afrikaans—the language of the ruling white minority—was at best a third language for most black Africans, the education problems under apartheid were much broader. Black students had separate schools and universities, and the facilities were old, ill funded, overcrowded, and often led by inadequately trained teachers. The protests, then, were the result of years of frustration and discrimination.

The first protest in Soweto (now part of Johannesburg) took place on June 16, 1976, as thousands of schoolchildren marched through the streets. Police opened fire on the children, killing two and wounding several others. This action prompted disturbances in many parts of South Africa during the next few months. Several clashes erupted between black Africans and the police, and at least 575 people, almost all of them young black Africans, were killed.

Soon after the uprising, the South African government enacted some reforms. It recognized black African trade unions, allowed township residents to take possession of their property under 99-year leases, and promoted a black middle class. In Soweto, the construction of new schools and houses began, bringing an end to a long period of no development.

In response to domestic and international pressure, South Africa began repealing apartheid laws in the 1970′s and 1980′s. In 1990 and 1991, the government repealed most of the remaining laws that had formed the legal basis of apartheid.

Soweto is South Africa’s largest urban black African community. Originally set up to house people forcibly removed from Johannesburg, it became an important center in the struggle for democracy in South Africa. Soweto became part of the city of Johannesburg in 1995.

December 10, 2013

Dozens of world leaders joined tens of thousands of South Africans to pay tribute to the late Nelson Mandela at a national memorial service in Johannesburg. The former South African president, a key figure in ending apartheid in South Africa and the first black president of that country, died on December 5 at age 95. Delivering a eulogy in a driving rain, United States President Barack Obama described Mandela as a “giant of history” who was the last great liberator of the 20th Century. “It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you,” declared President Obama, to a standing ovation. (Madiba is Mr. Mandela’s clan name.)

In a second eulogy, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon emphasized Nelson Mandela’s ability to forgive: “He showed the awesome power of forgiveness–and of connecting people with each other and with the true meaning of peace. That was his unique gift–and that was the lesson he shared with all humankind.”

Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South Africa. He had long been a major figure in the struggle for racial justice. (AP Photo)

The service, held at a vast soccer stadium, was attended by at least 90 current or former heads of state or government, perhaps the largest such gathering in history. The United States was represented by President and Mrs. Obama as well as by former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Toward the end of the service, President Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, a long-time American adversary. Political experts note that the gesture will likely stir much comment, both on the left and the right.

Nelson Mandela’s remains are to lie in state in Pretoria, South Africa’s executive capital, for three days. The funeral will take place on December 15 in his remote boyhood village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape region.

Other World Book articles:

• South Africa, History of
• South Africa 1990 (a Back in Time article)

Other sites or videos of interest: 

• African National Congress: The Nelson Mandela Page
• Frontline: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela

Jan. 10, 2012

Tens of thousands of South Africans and at least 45 heads of state attended a rally on January 8 at Bloemfontein, South Africa, to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the African National Congress (ANC). The rally was part of three days of festivities. Speaking at the rally, President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to his predecessors as leaders of the ANC, particularly Nelson Mandela, who led the party to power. The 93-year-old Mandela was not able to attend the celebration because of his frail health. President Zuma declared that the ANC now stands for the democratic values of equality and quoted the preamble to the ANC’s freedom charter: “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.”

Nelson Mandela (left) takes the oath of office for the presidency of South Africa in May 1994. Mandela was elected president in the country's first elections open to all races. © Mike Persson, Gamma Press

The ANC was founded in Bloemfontein on Jan. 8, 1912, to defend the political rights of black South Africans. In 1948, the government of South Africa instigated a policy of rigid racial segregation called apartheid. Young ANC members, led by Mandela, resisted the new laws, chiefly through civil disobedience. When the government outlawed the ANC in 1960, the ANC then began a policy of violent resistance to apartheid. Numerous members, including Mandela, were imprisoned. 

In 1993, the country extended voting rights to all races, and democratic elections were held in 1994. The ANC won the majority of seats in the Parliament, and South Africa’s white leaders handed over power to the country’s first multiracial government. Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison, became South Africa’s first black president.

Additional World Book articles

• Back in Time 1948 (South Africa)
• Back in Time 1950 (South Africa)
• Back in Time 1960 (South Africa)
• Back in Time 1990 (South Africa)
• Back in Time 1993 (South Africa)
• Back in Time 1994 (South Africa)