AFRICAN STORYTELLING - The Soweto Uprising

Have you ever been so frustrated with something in your society that you wanted it to change? What have you done to make it better? Below, you will find an article from the BBC about an protest staged by South African students in 1976  known as The Soweto Uprising. These students decided to stand up for themselves and demand an education and better treatment.

What was the Soweto uprising?

On 16 June 1976 an incident happened in South Africa that made headlines around the world that has since become known as the Soweto uprising. On that day a protest by black African children in the country ended when police fired guns at them. The government said 95 people - some of them children - were killed. It's thought more than 500 people died. At the time the South African government had a law called apartheid, which meant black people had fewer rights than white people and had to live separate lives from them. So what happened on that day, and what did it mean for South Africa?

BACKGROUND

How did apartheid start?

In 1948 a new government started introducing laws that made the lives of black people and white people very different.

They were not allowed to get married to each other, had to use different hospitals, buses, schools and couldn't even use the same beaches.

But worse than these were something called pass laws, which were introduced in 1958.

They stopped black people from living or working in towns unless they had the right papers. That meant they had to live and stay in very poor areas until they were needed for a job.

Black people were very angry about this, and there were lots of protests, but nothing changed until apartheid ended many years later.

AFTERMATH

What happened after the uprising?

The uprising and the way it was dealt with brought the problems in South Africa to the world's attention.

Some countries introduced things called sanctions against South Africa, which meant they refused to sell goods to the country or buy goods from it.

Other countries also refused to play South Africa at international sport.

Apartheid eventually ended in 1990.

JUNE 16th, 1976: "This is Our Day"

SouthAfricanInfo.com has a fascinating and detailed account of what happened that day. Click here to read more about what happened in South African society to lead up to that day. 

After you read the post above, click here to watch a short documentary about some of the students who participated in the uprising. 

The Soweto Uprising inspired a Broadway musical called Sarafina that was first performed in January, 1988. The musical was first performed in Johannesburg, South African in June 1987.  The musical ran for a year and a half, and later, in 1992 became a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg. The musical was also depicted in a documentary called The Voices of Sarafina.