This, said Mr Subukwe, would cause prisons to become overcrowded, labour to dry up and the economy to grind to a halt. It also came to symbolize that struggle. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans. These laws restricted blacks movements within the country. The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid . Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. On 21 March 1960, the police opened fire on a group of demonstrators who had gathered peacefully outside Sharpeville police station in response to a nationwide call by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) to protest against the hated pass system; 67 people died and hundreds more were wounded. The Black Consciousness Movement sparked mass protests among Blacks and prompted other liberation movements to demonstrate against the apartheid. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. Accounting & Finance; Business, Companies and Organisation, Activity; Case Studies; Economy & Economics; Marketing and Markets; People in Business A lot of Afrikaners felt a sense of guilt for the behavior they allowed to happen from their race towards another. Courtesy BaileySeippel Gallery/BAHA Source. "[6]:p.537, On 21 March 2002, the 42nd anniversary of the massacre, a memorial was opened by former President Nelson Mandela as part of the Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct.[22]. The victims included about 50 women and children. The South African government then created the Unlawful Organizations Act of 1960 which banned anti-apartheid groups such as the Pan Africanist Congress and the African National Congress. Some estimates put the size of the crowd at 20,000. The Sharpeville massacre was reported worldwide, and received with horror from every quarter. As they attempted to disperse the crowd, a police officer was knocked down and many in the crowd began to move forward to see what had happened. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the day that changed the course of South African history. 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. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg. The Sharpeville massacre also touched off three decades of protest in South Africa, ultimately leading to freedom for Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison. These resolutions established two important principles: that the human rights provisions in the UN Charter created binding obligations for member states, and that the UN could intervene directly in situations involving serious violations of human rights. When the demonstrators began to throw stones at the police, the police started shooting into the crowd. Even so and estimated 2000 to 3000 people gathered on the Commons. The foundation of Poqo, the military wing of the PAC, and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, followed shortly afterwards. 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. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. By 1960, however, anti-apartheid activism reached the town. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse the most cruel, yet well-crafted, horrific tactic of social engineering. The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced racial segregation under a system of legislation . These protestors included a large number of northern college students. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. 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. They also perpetuated the segregation within, The increase in the segregationist laws in the 1950s was met with resistance in the form of the Defiance Campaign that started in 1952. Sixty-nine protesters died, and the massacre became an iconic moment in the struggle against apartheid. [6]:pp.14,528 From the 1960s, the pass laws were the primary instrument used by the state to detain and harass its political opponents. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. He was followed by Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, Chairperson of the South African Indian Congress and Chairperson of the underground South African Communist Party. Following the Brown decision, grassroots African American activists began challenging segregation through protests continuing into the 1960s (Aiken et al., 2013). All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. the Sharpeville Massacre 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. When police opened . Philip H. Frankel, An Ordinary Atrocity: Sharpeville and its Massacre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001); Henry F. Jackson, From the Congo to Soweto: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Africa Since 1960 (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982); Meredith Martin, The History of Apartheid: The Story of the Colour War in South Africa (New York: London House & Maxwell, 1962). 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. 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. Participants were instructed to surrender their reference books (passes) and invite arrest. All Rights Reserved. Sharpeville Massacre. By mid-day approximately 300 armed policemen faced a crowd of approximately 5000 people. As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. Perseverance and determination are also needed to build on the lessons learnedfrom the Sharpeville tragedy and repair the injustices of the past. 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 argument against apartheid was now framed as a specific manifestation of a wider battle for human rights and it was the only political system mentioned in the 1965 Race Convention: nazism and antisemitism were not included. By lunchtime, the crowd outside the police station had grown to an estimated 20,000 people. At 13h15 a small scuffle began near the entrance of the police station. Following the Sharpeville massacre, as it came to be known, the death toll rose to 69 and the number of injuries to 180. Witness History. Some were shot in the back as they fled.[1]. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. March 21, is celebrated as a public holiday in honor of human rights and to commemorate the . [10] Few of the policemen present had received public order training. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? A state of emergency was declared in South Africa, more than 11,000 people were detained, and the PAC and ANC were outlawed. The PAC argued that if thousands of people were arrested, then the jails would be filled and the economy would come to a standstill. These two industries experienced rapid growth in the immediate aftermath of World War II and continued growing into the 1950s and 1960s. 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. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. A deranged White man, David Pratt, made an assassination attempt on Dr. Verwoerd, who was seriously injured. We must listen to them, learn from them, and work with them to build a better future.. The event was an inspiration for painter Oliver Lee Jackson in his Sharpeville Series from the 1970s.[23]. But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. Do you find this information helpful? 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. Despite the Sharpeville massacre feeling seismic in its brutality, "we all thought at that moment that it would cause a change in the political situation in South Africa," said Berry - "it was really ten years before anything changed." . 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. 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. On March 21, 1960, without warning, South African police at Sharpeville, an African township of Vereeninging, south of Johannesburg, shot into a crowd of about 5,000 unarmed anti-pass protesters, killing at least 69 people - many of them shot in the back - and wounding . The Supreme Courts decision in the famous and landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 set a precedent for desegregation in schools. 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. However, the 1289 Words 6 Pages In 1960, states had no binding international human rights obligations and there were no oversight mechanisms. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar. 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. Within hours the news of the killing at Sharpeville was flashed around the world. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . Let's Take Action Towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international human rights law system we have today. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}264118S 275219E / 26.68833S 27.87194E / -26.68833; 27.87194. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Furthermore, during the nineties to the twenties, leaders of African Americans sought to end segregation in the South, as caused by Plessy v. Ferguson. Many of the civilians present attended voluntarily to support the protest, but there is evidence that the PAC also used coercive means to draw the crowd there, including the cutting of telephone lines into Sharpeville, and preventing bus drivers from driving their routes. 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. In Pretoria a small group of six people presented themselves at the Hercules police station. Following shortly, the Group Areas Act of 1950 was enacted as a new form of legislation alongside the Population Registration Act. 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 ). On the 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. In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. Everyone should have an equal rights and better community . When protesters reconvened in defiance, the police charged at them with batons, tear gas and guns. A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. However, the nations mentality needed work - though the popularity of Civil Rights was rising, many riots and racial hate crimes continued to occur throughout the country, with many casualties resulting from them (infoplease.com). The adoption of the Race Convention was quickly followed by the 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. 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. Professor of International Law, Lancaster University. The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. On 1 April 1960, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 134. 1960 police killing of protesters in Transvaal (now Gauteng), South Africa. The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages. 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). The rally began peacefully, the iron bell was rung (usually it was rung to signal victories in football games) and one speaker started to speak. And then there are those who feel deeply involved and moved, but also powerless to deal with the enormity of the situation (Krog 221). In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws thatd force segregation, classification, educational requirements, and economic purposes. . This caused many other countries to criticize South Africas apartheid policy. . South Africa had already been harshly criticised for its apartheid policies, and this incident fuelled anti-apartheid sentiments as the international conscience was deeply stirred. One of the insights has been that international law does not change unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. Half a century has passed but memories of the Sharpeville massacre still run deep. Racial and religious conflicts; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle between the sexes; conflicts between management and labor; and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals all stem, in whole or in part, to oppression. The people were throwing their hats to the aeroplanes. To read more about the protests in Cape Town. Furthermore, a new police station was created, from which the police were energetic to check passes, deporting illegal residents, and raiding illegal shebeens. T he Sharpeville massacre, the name given to the murder of 69 unarmed civilians by armed South African police, took place on 21 March 1960. Many people need to know that indiviual have their own rights in laws and freedom . [4] Leading up to the Sharpeville massacre, the National Party administration under the leadership of Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd used these laws to enforce greater racial segregation[5] and, in 19591960, extended them to include women. Its similar to an article in south africa that people have with racial segregation between black and white . Baileys African History. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because they did not have a parade permit (Reed 26). 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. With the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994, the apartheid system ended. After some demonstrators, according to police, began stoning police officers and their armoured cars, the officers opened fire on them with submachine guns. 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. 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. At the end of the bridge, they were met by many law enforcement officers holding weapons; thus, the demonstrators were placing their lives in danger. This set the UN on the path towards the recognition of all human rights for all and, eventually, the establishment of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights performance of all states. The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. On March 21, demonstrators disobeyed the pass laws by giving up or burning their pass books. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. Although blood was not shed on Krogs hands directly, she took on the shame of her race. This angered the officers causing them to brutally attack and tear gas the demonstrators. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. Expert Answers. Furthermore, the history of the African civil rights movement validated: Nationalism has been tested in the peoples struggles . Knowing the democracy we have today was achieved in part because of the blood we sacrificed was worth it, she says. On March 21, 1960. Philip Finkie Molefe, responsible for establishing the first Assemblies of God church in the Vaal, was among the clergy that conducted the service.[11]. The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre, as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by these organisations. The, For one, African American leaders in the 90s to the 20s attempted to end the disenfranchisement of African Americans, done through poll taxes and literacy tests, by advocating their cause in the more sympathetic North. On the day passes were suspended (25 March 1960) Kgosana led another march of between 2000 and 5000 people from Langa to Caledon Square. 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. Sharpeville was first built in 1943 to replace Topville, a nearby township that suffered overcrowding where illnesses like pneumonia were widespread. African Americans demonstrated their frustration with lack of progress on the issue through non-violent means and campaigns led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (Bourne, In a march against segregation and barriers for African-American voting rights, peaceful marchers were exposed to harsh treatment by the police, 50 being hospitalized by the terrorism inflicted on them (civilrights.org). The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid. It was a sad day for black South Africa. Black citizens began to resist this prejudice though and also used violence against the enforcers of Apartheid. On 21 March 1960, sixty-nine unarmed anti-pass protesters were shot dead by police and over 180 were injured. On the same day, the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all public meetings. After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. By 9 April the death toll had risen to 83 non-White civilians and three non-White police officers. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. The South African government began arresting more nonconformists and banning resistance organizations, such as the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress. Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards. As the campaign went on, the apartheid government started imposing strict punishments on people who violated the segregationist laws. Three people were killed and 26 others were injured. A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The story of March 21 1960 is told by Tom Lodge, a scholar of South African politics, in his book Sharpeville. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. It is likely that the police were quick to fire as two months before the massacre, nine constables had been assaulted and killed, some disembowelled, during a raid at Cato Manor. Confrontation in the township of Sharpeville, Gauteng Province. It authorized the limited use of arms and sabotage against the government, which got the governments attentionand its anger! 20072023 Blackpast.org. In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. 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 enforcement of Pass Laws and the reissue of laws that restricted the. Some of them had been on duty for over twenty-four hours without respite. Sixty-nine Africans were killed and 186 were wounded, with most shot in the back. 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. This march is seen by many as a turning point in South African history. Under the country's National Party government, African residents in urban districts were subject to influx control measures. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. [12], Many White South Africans were also horrified by the massacre. All the evidence points to the gathering being peaceful and good humoured. One of the insights was that international law does not change, unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. They were mild campaigns at first, but as the government became more hostile, so did ANC protests. [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. The Sharpeville Massacre awakened the international community to the horrors of apartheid. The apartheid in South Africa which was in effect from 1948 until 1994 was not only a racist policy which greatly affected the quality of life of minorities in the country for the worse but was a outright crime against humanity. Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. There were 249 victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 people killed and 180 injured. 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. The Population Registration Act of 1950 enacted, requiring segregation of Europeans from Afrikaans . This year, UN and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joined South Africans in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, using the flagship campaign #FightRacism to promote awareness of these critical issues. [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. 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.