Another emotional place we visited while on our excursion to Johannesburg was the Sharpeville Massacre Museum and Memorial. On March 21st of 1960, 5000 to 7000 people gathered at the local police station in the Sharpeville township to protest peacefully. They purposefully did not carry their passbooks to demonstrate defiance of the Pass Laws and offered themselves up for arrest. Once the crowd grew dramatically, the tone of the situation took a turn for the worse and became increasingly hostile.
The official numbers reported were that 69 people were killed, 10 of whom were children, and another 180 were injured, 19 of whom were children. Like the Soweto Uprisings recounted at the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial, many victims were shot in the back as they were turned around to run away from the police.
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| Garden of Remembrance at the Sharpeville Memorial |
It was interesting how many parallels could be drawn between the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa to the civil rights movement in United States history. Learning more about South African history and politics has made me realize how little I know about my own country's past and made me want to learn more.
During our visit at the Sharpeville Massacre Memorial, we took a walk around the site of the massacre. Nicole and I wandered off to talk to a man who was there the day of the shootings and had relatives who were murdered that day and were honored in the Garden of Remembrance. He showed us the passbook he used to be required to carry and told us what it was like to get questioned about his passbook under apartheid.
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| Passbook from the 1960s |
He shared his story with us and was eager to let me get it on video so that I could share it with others. Here is his story.
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