Sharpeville Massacre
On 21 March 1960, the South African Police opened fire on a crowd of black African protesters demonstrating against pass laws at the Sharpeville police station, killing 69 and injuring 180 people in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. The protest in Sharpeville was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. “Sharpeville” has been viewed as a turning point in South Africa’s modern history. It persuaded the liberation movements that there was no point in civil rights-style activism and served as the catalyst for the formation of military wings. Aftermath
Sharpeville was the site selected by then President Nelson Mandela for the signing into law of the Constitution of South Africa on 10 December 1996. On 21 March 2002, he opened "The Sharpeville Memorial" to honour the victims of the massacre.
Since 1994, 21 March has been commemorated as Human Rights Day in South Africa. UNESCO marks 21 March as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
(From the English Wikipedia, edited)
Selected publications
Remembering Sharpeville Day and Fashioning Contested National Narratives: The Sharpeville Memorial Precinct and the Langa Memorial / A.K. Hlongwane A.K.; S.M. Ndlovu.
In: Public History and Culture in South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019.
In: The journal of African history , vol. 56, no. 1, p. 119-142, 2015
In: Picturing atrocity: photography in crisis / G. Batchen, M. Gidley, N. Miller, J. Prosser, 2012, p. 209-223
Sharpeville : an apartheid massacre and its consequences / Tom Lodge. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2011
Talk given at the Faculty of Humanities Rhodes University 23 March 2010 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre
An ordinary atrocity : Sharpeville and its massacre / Philip H. Frankel. - New Haven [etc.] : Yale University Press, cop. 2001
Life in the time of Sharpeville : and wayward seeds of a new South Africa / Tyler Humphrey. - Cape Town : Kwela Books, 1995
A precis of the reports of the commissions appointed to enquire into the events occurring on March 21 1960 at Sharpeville and Langa. - Johannesburg : S.A. Institute of Race Relations, 1961
See also the reports of the Commission of Enquiry into the Events in Sharpeville, online available at UCLA Library: https://idep.library.ucla.edu/sharpeville-massacre
For more publications see the ASCL Library Catalogue
Sharpeville massacre was turning point in anti-apartheid movement (CBS news)
Timeline: South African major mass killings via Wikidata (See also South African History online)
Posted on 21 March 2021, last modified on 22 March 2021