91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Event    From 21/3/1960  To 21/3/1960

Sharpeville Massacre

Categories: Race Issues, Tragedy

Countries: South Africa

Sharpeville Massacre

This took place near the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal (today part of Gauteng). After a day of demonstrations against pass laws (these were an internal passport system, designed to segregate the population), a crowd of about 5,000 to 7,000 black protesters went to the station where the police opened fire on them, killing 69 people. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd; some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others said they had been hurling stones at the police, and that the shooting started when they began advancing towards the fence around the station. Since 1994, 21st March has been commemorated as Human Rights Day in South Africa.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sharpeville Massacre

Commemorated ati

Sharpeville Massacre

{On the large plaque with an image of protesters on a map of Africa:} Sharpev...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Other Subjects

Black Consciousness Movement of Azania

Black Consciousness Movement of Azania

Organisation that was the external arm of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). An anti-apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s after the banning of the African ...

Group, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, South Africa

1 memorial
The Right Reverend Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston, CR, KCMG.

The Right Reverend Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston, CR, KCMG.

Bishop and archbishop. Born Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston in Bedford. Ordained in 1937, he became the Bishop of Masai, Tanzania, then the Bishop of Stepney, London, and eventually the second Archb...

Person, Race Issues, Religion, South Africa

1 memorial
Nirmal Roy

Nirmal Roy

Nirmal Chandra Roy first stood as a Labour party candidate in the Adelaide Ward of the London Borough of Camden in the 1978 council elections and came 6th. Four years later in 1982 he stood in the ...

Person, Politics & Administration, Race Issues

1 memorial
Jak Beula Dodd

Jak Beula Dodd

Born St Mary's Hospital Paddington, to parents who were both from Jamaica, John Bubeula Dodd is commonly known as Jak Beula. He is a British entrepreneur and cultural activist of Caribbean heritage...

Person, Community / Clubs, Race Issues, Sculpture

2 memorials
Lady Byron

Lady Byron

Born as Anne Isabella Milbanke, sometimes known as Annabella, an heiress in her own right. Unusually well-educated. An unwise marriage to Lord Byron in January 1815 lasted only a year but did produ...

Person, Education, Friend / family, Race Issues

1 memorial